CHURCH  AND  SIjp 
SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 


Hkrbeict  Heebner  Smith 


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*      JUL  C?1922       * 


BV    653    .S7 


^y    school 


CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY 
SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 


Practical  Suggestions  for  Using  the 
Printed  Word  to  Extend  the 


Influence  of  the  Gospel     -^vV^^  "f  ''"''^V?}^ 

JUL  J?'/ 1922 


OSIUI  StUj*^ 


Herbert  Heebner  Smith 

Author  of  "Publicity  and  Progress" 

Associate  Director,  Department  of  Publicity 

Presbyterian  Church,  U.S.A. 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  WESTMINSTER  PRESS 
1922 


Copyright,  1922,  by 

TBUSTEES  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OP  PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH  SCHOOL  WORK 


Printed  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

Introduction 7 

I    Analyzing   Church   and   Sunday   School    Publicity 

Problems 11 

II    Advertising  the  Church  or  Sunday  School  to  Itself  24 

III  Oral  Announcements 36 

IV  Calendars,  Bulletins,  and  Papers 40 

V    Posters  and  Cards 52 

VI    Writing  Letters 59 

VII    Using  the  Newspapers 68 

VIII    Publicity  for  Conventions  and  Special  Meetings.  . .  89 

IX   Other  Uses  of  Publicity 103 

X   Advertising  Religion  in  Paid  Space 112 

XI    The  Mechanics  of  Writing  Advertisements 127 

XII    The  Content  op  the  Church  Advertisement 142 

Bibliography 170 

Index 173 


"And  thou  shalt  love  Jehovah  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might.  And  these  words,  which 
I  command  unto  thee  this  day,  shall  be  upon  thy  heart;  and  thou 
shalt  teach  them  diligently  unto  thy  children,  and  shalt  talk  of  them 
when  thou  sittest  in  thy  house,  and  when  thou  walkest  by  the  way, 
and  when  thou  liest  down,  and  when  thou  risest  up.  And  thou 
shalt  bind  them  for  a  sign  upon  thy  hand,  and  they  shall  be  for 
frontlets  between  thine  eyes.  And  thou  shalt  write  them  upon  the 
doorposts  of  thy  house,  and  upon  thy  gates." — Deut.  6:5-9. 

"  Declare  ye  among  the  nations  and  pubhsh,  and  set  up  a  standard; 
pubhsh,  and  conceal  not." — Jer.  50:2. 

"And  God  said,  This  is  the  token  of  the  covenant  which  I  make 
between  me  and  you  and  every  hving  creature  that  is  with  you,  for 
perpetual  generations:  I  do  set  my  bow  in  the  cloud,  and  it  shall  be 
for  a  token  of  a  covenant  between  me  and  the  earth." — Gen.  9: 12. 


INTRODUCTION 

IETTERS  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  by  both 
i  ministers  and  laymen,  reveal  interest  in  the 
use  of  the  printed  word  as  a  means  of  extend- 
ing the  influence  of  Christianity.  The  two  following 
show  the  trend  of  present  church  thought  in  a  grow- 
ing number  of  centers: 

^'I  am  pastor  of  a  small  church  in  a  town  of  5000. 
How  can  I  best  use  our  weekly  paper  to  get  the  mes- 
sage of  the  church  before  the  people?" 

''I  am  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  here. 
I  feel  we  ought  to  be  more  aggressive  in  reaching  after 
pupils.  What  can  you  suggest  for  adequate  pub- 
licity?" 

This  book  is  an  effort  to  set  forth  a  few  of  the 
principles  of  commercial  advertising  and  to  show 
their  application  to  church  work.  Encouragement  in 
its  production  was  first  given  by  Marion  Lawrance, 
dean  of  Sunday-school  workers,  during  a  conversation 
at  Conference  Point  in  1918,  where  the  writer  was  lec- 
turing to  state  Sunday-school  secretaries  on  methods 
of  obtaining  publicity  for  their  work.  Upon  learning 
that  there  was  no  book  available  as  a  text  for  such 
classes  Mr.  Lawrance  suggested  the  writing  of  such 
a  book.  He  thought  that  the  Sunday-school  field 
would  welcome  it. 

Close  association  with  pastors  of  many  denomina- 

7 


8   CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

tions  in  schools  and  conferences  on  church  pubhcity 
has  shown  need  for  a  book  on  local  church  publicity  of 
a  little  different  type  than  those  available.  Through 
his  connection  with  the  Department  of  Pubhcity  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A.,  the  writer  has  had 
opportunity  to  examine  thousands  of  samples  of 
church  advertisements  and  other  printed  matter  and 
has  come  to  know  what  are  the  most  vexing  questions 
in  local  church  publicity.  Effort  has  been  made  to 
present  the  bases  on  which  solutions  of  these  prob- 
lems may  be  worked  out. 

Of  course,  the  subject  is  by  no  means  exhausted 
here.  There  are  thousands  of  examples  of  advertise- 
ments and  printed  matter  fully  as  good  as  those  re- 
produced, but  a  choice  had  to  be  made.  Many 
pastors  are  doing  excellent  work  with  printer's  ink. 
Others,  because  of  lack  of  information  and  training, 
have  been  spending  money  which  has  not  brought 
the  largest  possible  results. 

Several  writers  are  offering  ready-made  church  ad- 
vertisements of  merit.  These  are  useful  in  union 
campaigns,  although  one  such  series  has  also  been 
used  by  indi\ddual  churches  in  nearly  four  hundred 
towns. 

Theological  seminaries  are  coming  to  see  the  advis- 
abiUty  of  teaching  men  how  to  use  the  printed  word 
as  well  as  the  spoken  word  for  the  advancement  of  the 
Church.  The  writer  hopes  that  an  increasing  num- 
ber of  church  and  Sunday-school  leaders  will  insist 
that  the  subject  of  rehgious  publicity  be  included  in 
convention  programs.     The  International  Sunday 


INTRODUCTION 


School  Association  has  pointed  the  way  by  having 
courses  on  pubhcity  at  its  summer  training  schools. 

The  viewpoint  of  the  book  is  that  of  a  newspaper 
man  rather  than  that  of  a  pastor.  The  first  chapters 
deal  with  publicity  within  the  church.  Then  follows 
some  discussion  of  the  value  of  news  in  the  papers  and 
paid  advertising  to  reach  those  not  now  attendants. 
Help  will  be  found  for  the  smallest  church  or  Sunday 
school  in  the  most  remote  district,  as  well  as  for  the 
fashionable  church  on  the  avenue  which  has  not  been 
successful  in  enlisting  for  its  publicity  the  trained  ad- 
vertising men  who  may  be  in  its  congregation. 

Business  has  discovered  that  personal  salesman- 
ship, although  effective,  is  costly.  The  church  knows 
that  great  efforts  must  be  expended  to  move  a  small 
number  of  church  members  to  work  persistently  for 
new  attendants  at  church  services.  Why  should  not 
the  church  follow  the  lead  of  its  business  men  and 
bring  something  of  the  gospel,  and  an  invitation  to 
hear  more,  to  the  attention  of  the  pubHc?  Why  not 
move  the  people  for  righteousness  in  the  same  way 
in  which  they  are  induced  to  buy  a  new  brand  of 
bread  or  meat  or  shoes?  They  need  the  gospel  more 
than  they  need  food  and  clothing.  The  writer  be- 
lieves that  they  can  be  persuaded  of  that  fact  through 
the  printed  word. 

Herbert  H.  Smith 

156  Fifth  Avenue, 
New  York  City. 


CHAPTER  I 

ANALYZING  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 
PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS 

TDUBLICITY  for  religious  organizations  as  dis- 
-*■  cussed  in  this  volume  embraces  all  means,  spoken, 
written,  or  printed,  designed  to  deepen  interest  in 
Christianity  and  increase  the  number  of  its  adherents. 
Pubhcity  is  a  general  word,  embracing  all  forms  of 
making  an  organization  known,  while  advertising  is 
limited  loosely  to  those  forms  of  pubhcity  which  cost 
money.  Every  time  a  Sunday-school  teacher  visits 
an  absent  pupil,  every  time  the  pastor  announces  the 
theme  of  his  evening  sermon,  or  sends  an  item  to  the 
newspaper,  the  church  is  given  pubhcity. 

Church  work  is  done  best  if  some  rehable  person  is 
given  direct  and  exclusive  responsibihty.  So  with 
pubhcity.  If  some  one  in  each  church  and  Sunday 
school,  and  every  other  Church  organization,  is 
constantly  seeking  to  answer  the  question,  "How 
can  I  make  this  church  and  its  work  better  known?'' 
the  work  of  the  organization  ought  to  grow. 

In  a  majority  of  churches  and  Sunday  schools  the 
pastor  or  superintendent  will  add  the  duties  of  pub- 
licity direction  to  his  already  overflowing  load  of  re- 
sponsibilities. Adequate  management  of  pubhcity 
requires,  however,  more  attention  than  can  be  given  by 
a  man  whose  main  interest  is  distracted  by  a  dozen 

11 


12     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

duties  and,  if  possible,  some  one  person  or  a  committee 
of  three  or  five  should  have  full  responsibility.  The 
Sunday  school  may  well  have  a  connmittee  of  its  own. 

The  chairman  will  be  more  than  an  honorary  mem- 
ber of  the  PubHcity  Committee.  He  ought  to  be  to 
the  church  what  the  managing  editor  is  to  a  dail}^ 
paper.  He  must  have  the  full  cooperation  of  the  pastor 
and  be  in  intimate  touch  with  all  affairs.  The  members 
of  his  committee  will  act  as  reporters,  artists,  and 
messengers. 

In  a  Presbyterian  church  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey, 
the  manager  of  a  very  successful  publicity  work  is  a 
layman  who  rides  a  church  publicity  hobby,  to  the 
good  of  the  congregation  and  the  town.  He  ar- 
ranges for  semiweekly  signs  in  front  of  the  church, 
takes  charge  of  the  pubUcation  of  the  weekly  bulletin, 
contracts  for  advertising  space  in  the  paper,  and  sees 
that  reading  matter  about  the  church  reaches  the 
editor  each  week. 

A  smaller  church  does  much  of  its  advertising  with 
the  help  of  a  duplicating  machine.  The  pastor  se- 
lected as  the  PubHcity  Committee  a  young  man  who 
was  taking  a  correspondence  course  in  letter-writing 
and  a  young  woman  with  some  talent  for  drawing. 
Together  they  worked  out  a  series  of  illustrated  letters 
designed  to  boost  the  attendance. 

One  of  the  largest  Presbyterian  churches  in  Detroit 
has  a  publicity  man  with  a  keen  sense  for  organiza- 
tion. He  is  office  man  in  one  of  the  automobile  fac- 
tories and  without  experience  in  advertising,  but  he 
deUghts  in  working  out  systems  and  he  was  eager  to 


ANALYZING  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  13 

help  in  the  church.  This  chairman  has  as  other  mem- 
bers of  his  committee  a  young  man  employed  in  an 
advertising  agency  as  reporter  for  church  activities, 
an  older  man  who  had  previously  organized  the  boys 
of  the  church  to  deliver  printed  matter  to  homes,  and 
a  young  girl  who  with  a  clever  brush  and  nimble 
fingers  makes  posters  similar  to  those  illustrated  on 
page  54. 

The  Pubhcity  Committee  may  also  well  include  a 
member  whose  duty  is  to  sohcit  subscriptions  for 
denominational  periodicals  and  church  papers  and 
stimulate  the  reading  of  them  by  appropriate  notices 
in  the  church  calendar  and  by  pinning  upon  the 
bulletin  board  pictures  or  other  matter  from  current 
issues.  This  is  a  task  which  may  well  be  assigned  to 
a  woman,  possibly  one  who  has  little  talent  for  lead- 
ership or  pubhc  speaking,  but  who  is  methodical  and 
persistent. 

Young  people  of  the  church  may  be  enlisted  as 
gatherers  of  information  about  organizations  with 
which  the  chairman  may  not  be  in  close  touch.  The 
chairman  and  pastor  should  also  have  an  eye  for  the 
future  and  include  some  one  on  the  committee  who 
can  be  trained  as  the  next  chairman. 

The  methodical  committee  will,  of  course,  make  a 
program  for  the  year,  and  make  it  well  in  advance. 
Conamercial  advertisers  make  up  at  one  time  the 
series  of  ads  they  expect  to  run.  They  assemble  the 
art  work,  the  copy,  have  plates  made,  and  ship  elec- 
trotypes to  publications  many  months  in  advance  of 
the  date  of  issue.     The  booklets,  dealers'  helps,  and 


14     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

circular  letters  are  all  planned  carefully.  In  much 
the  same  way  the  PubHcity  Committee  of  a  church  or 
school  will  do  well  to  plan  far  in  advance.  The  very 
act  of  putting  the  plans  on  paper  will  stimulate  early 
preparation,  and  consequently  better  results. 

The  Three  Important  Questions 
But  no  matter  how  the  Publicity  Committee  is 
organized,  these  questions  must  be  kept  constantly 
to  the  fore : 

^Vhathaveweto^^sell"? 
Where  can  we  ''sell"  it? 

How  can  we  tell  our  ''possible  market"  about  our 
goods? 

The  first  two  of  these  questions  can  be  settled  only 
by  one  who  has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  church 
and  the  field  it  seeks  to  serve.  Answer  to  the  third 
question  involves  consideration  of  man}^  factors  which 
many  church  workers  have  not  carefully  studied. 
Most  of  this  volume  is  devoted  to  showing  how 
various  religious  organizations  have  used  publicity 
to  inform  their  possible  market,  together  with  an 
analysis  of  the  underlying  principles  which  may  be 
used  to  the  same  end  by  other  organizations,  what- 
ever the  size  or  situation. 

What  Has  the  Church  to  Advertise? 
To  a  certain  degree  the  measure  of  a  church's  serv- 
ice to  the  community  will  determine  its  advertising. 
Some  writers  on  church  advertising  urge  that  the 
preacher  be  advertised  all  the  time,  comparing  the 


ANALYZING  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  15 

preacher  to  the  star  performer  in  a  theater.  This 
advice  may  be  right.  If  such  advertising  brings  the 
people  to  chm*ch  and  to  Christ,  it  is  good  advertising. 
Many  churches  have  found,  however,  that  overem- 
phasis on  the  pastor  and  underemphasis  on  the  mes- 
sage of  the  gospel  has  built  up  an  audience  rather 
than  a  congregation.  (See  Skeath,  '^Building  the  Con- 
gregation.") The  former  leaves  when  the  preacher 
does.  The  building  of  a  stable  congregation,  active 
and  energetic  in  the  work  of  the  Master,  ought  to  be 
one  large  object  of  church  advertising. 

As  the  church  stands  first  for  the  message  of  Christ 
and  his  love,  so  the  advertising,  representative  of  the 
church  to  the  man  outside,  ought  to  stress  the  same 
note.  It  is  my  beUef  that  every  church  advertise- 
ment ought  to  contain  something  which  when  read 
will  leave  an  uphfting  thought.  Seldom  should  an 
announcement  paid  for  with  the  Lord's  money  be 
merely  an  invitation  to  attend  a  particular  service. 
It  should  be  that,  but  there  should  be  linked  with  it 
some  word  of  suggestion,  a  phrase  or  a  statement 
which  will  help  the  unsaved  and  strengthen  the 
tempted. 

But  how  are  we  to  break  into  advertisable  parts 
the  nub  of  the  gospel  and  apply  it  to  present  condi- 
tions in  language  which  non-churchgoers  will  read 
with  interest,  and  still  confine  ourselves  to  half  a 
dozen  sentences  or  fewer?  Answer  to  this  involves 
analysis  of  what  the  church  offers  the  community. 
The  same  analysis  must  be  made  before  any  success- 
ful campaign  can  be  launched  for  a  Sunday  school, 


16  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

an  organized  class,  a  series  of  evangelistic  meetings, 
or  any  other  special  feature. 

Most  of  the  ' 'things"  which  the  church  has  for  the 
community  are  intangible.  The  problem  is  to  inter- 
pret these  unseen  elements  in  terms  which  the  aver- 
age man  can  understand.  This  was  done  in  one 
advertisement  relating  to  belief  in  an  unseen  God  by 
asking  telephone  operators  and  telephone  users  if 
they  had  ever  seen  electricity.  The  effects  of  this 
force  can  be  seen,  but  not  the  force  itself;  so  it  is  with 
God.  Chemists  and  doctors  were  appealed  to  in  the 
same  way  in  regard  to  the  laws  of  chemical  affinity. 
In  some  such  manner  laws  of  the  spirit  may  be  made 
inteUigible  to  the  reader  of  newspaper  or  circular. 

Among  elements  of  the  gospel,  as  interpreted 
through  the  church,  which  can  be  brought  tangibly 
to  the  attention  of  possible  attendants  at  any  church, 
are  the  following : 

Opportunity  to  help  others 

Salvation  from  sin 

Inspiration  for  difficult  tasks 

Comfort  in  distress 

Instruction  in  unselfishness 

Happiness  through  service 

Quiet  and  rest  to  vexed  spirits 

Bible  study 

Morality 

Child-training 

Character  development 

Community  support  (we  would  not  live  where  there 

are  no  churches) 
Companionship 


ANALYZING  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  17 

Because  the  sermon  is  the  big  weekly  task  of  the 
preacher,  many  pastors  instinctively  consider  it  the 
biggest  drawing  card.  This  seems  to  put  a  premium 
on  catchy  sermon  titles.  Interesting  titles  are  to  be 
commended,  but  some  pastors  have  carried  to  ex- 
treme the  desire  to  get  sermon  subjects  which  will 
draw  hearers. 

Good  themes  for  advertising  will  grow  out  of  the 
sermon  content  for  a  particular  Sunday.  ^'Golf  or  a 
Sermon"  was  the  heading  of  an  advertisement  invit- 
ing attendance  Sunday  evening  to  hear  a  sermon  on 
the  Seventh  Commandment.  It  preached  to  the 
town,  whether  or  not  the  town  came  to  the  sermon. 
In  a  similar  manner  many  good  advertisements  can 
be  built  from  the  main  topic,  not  necessarily  the 
title,  of  a  sermon.  (Further  suggestions  are  given 
in  Chapter  XII.)  Keep  your  eye  fixed  on  the  up- 
building of  a  stable  body  of  people  who  go  to  chiu-ch 
as  a  regular  part  of  their  spiritual  exercise.  Help 
them  to  realize  that  prayer,  hymns,  and  Bible-read- 
ing are  worthy  parts  of  the  service. 

Where  Is  the  Possible  Market? 

Answer  to  this  second  highly  important  question 
needs  more  care  than  is  indicated  in  an  offhand  an- 
swer that  ^'my  parish  includes  sixteen  blocks"  or 
''three  townships."  A  house-to-house  survey  is  the 
only  way  adequately  to  know  the  "possible  market" 
for  the  goods  your  church  offers. 

The  pastor  or  the  Publicity  Committee  should 
know  what  proportion  of  the  people  who  may  rea- 


18  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

sonably  be  supposed  to  attend  a  church  or  Sunday 
school  are  young,  married,  wage-earners,  professional 
people.  Where  do  they  live?  What  are  the  means 
of  transportation  to  the  church?  What  is  in  com- 
petition to  attendance?  (Sunday  auto  rides,  friends 
calling,  babies  to  care  for,  Sunday  newspapers,  busi- 
ness, indifference,  movies,  parks,  and  the  like.)  This 
last  question  is  important  because  much  of  the  mat- 
ter in  letters,  circulars,  and  advertisements  should 
be  planned  in  order  positively  to  meet  the  competi- 
tion. A  survey  will  show  what  proportion  of  the 
'^possible  market^'  are  automobile  owners,  how  many 
families  have  young  children,  what  proportion  are 
foreign-speaking,  and  other  facts. 

Many  pastors  know  answers  to  all  these  questions 
in  a  general  way,  but  general  answers  are  often  as 
inaccurate  as  was  the  reply  of  the  Sunday-school  su- 
perintendent in  a  Chicago  suburb  who  rejected  the 
idea  of  a  canvass  because  ' 'everybody  goes  to  some 
Sunday  school."  A  survey  made  soon  after  by  a 
religious  education  board  showed  that  only  slightly 
more  than  half  of  the  children  in  town  were  getting 
Sunday  religious  instruction.  Be  sure  that  you 
know  the  facts.  Guesses  are  fatal  to  success  in  well- 
organized  church  work.  Carrying  out  these  sugges- 
tions will  take  time,  but  careful  survey  of  the  com- 
munity will  bring  the  facts. 

Knowing  where  the  possible  customers  are,  and 
something  of  their  habits,  the  final  question  comes  to 
the  front:  How  can  we  get  them  to  the  church  or 
Sunday  school?     But  lest  we  forget  the  things  near- 


ANALYZING  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  19 

est  at  hand,  let  us  suggest  at  once  that  few  churches 
are  ready  to  advertise  for  more  attendants  until  the 
leaders  are  sure  the  present  membership  is  well  or- 
ganized, harmonious,  and  informed  about  its  work. 
The  next  chapter  will  suggest  some  ways  of  advertis- 
ing a  church  to  itself. 

How  Shall  the  Church  Reach  Its 
Possible  Market? 

The  third  question,  How  to  reach  the  possible  con- 
sumers of  what  the  church  has  to  offer,  depends  for 
answer  upon  many  conditions.  If  most  of  the  people 
a  church  seeks  to  reach  are  foreigners,  obviously  ad- 
vertisements in  English  newspapers  will  be  of  slight 
use.  If  the  field  is  largely  high-class  apartments,  the 
employment  of  cheap  handbills  scattered  in  hallways 
will  be  worse  than  useless.  Each  situation  must  be 
studied,  and  the  survey  made  from  the  standpoint  of 
what  is  to  be  "sold"  and  to  whom. 

The  new  pastor  of  a  Methodist  church  in  Brooklyn 
found  that  many  Jews  had  moved  into  the  neighbor- 
hood. Most  of  the  constituents  of  the  church  lived 
some  distance  from  the  place  of  worship.  A  sign- 
board was  almost  useless  because  of  the  side-street 
location  of  the  church.  The  officials  had,  however, 
an  up-to-date  list  of  the  Protestant  families  of  the 
neighborhood  not  connected  with  any  church.  With 
these  names  and  addresses  the  problem  of  advertising 
the  church  was  the  comparatively  simple  matter  of 
sending  the  proper  sort  of  literature  to  these  families. 

In  a  small  Southern  California  town  there  was  no 


20     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

newspaper.  Most  of  the  trading  was  in  near-by  San 
Diego.  The  points  of  contact  between  the  people 
and  the  local  pastor  seemed  few.  But  everyone 
went  to  the  post  office,  and  all  passed  certain  corners. 
Signs  of  various  sorts  placed  at  these  strategic  points 
helped  to  attract  attention  to  religious  services. 

Advertising  as  used  in  connection  with  churches 
means  all  sorts  of  methods  of  reaching  people  not  now 
sufficiently  interested  in  the  organization  to  give  it 
support.  Paid  advertising  in  newspapers  may  be 
the  last  thing  your  church  should  attempt.  The 
following  are  a  few  of  the  means  of  carrying  into  the 
minds  of  men  and  women  the  message  of  the  church 
or  its  services.   The  list  is  not  meant  to  be  exhaustive. 

Painted  wooden  signs  Booklet  of  sermons 

Movable  letter  bulletin  boards  Blotters 

Muslin  banners  Sunday-school  papers  and  cards 

Billboards  Calendars 

Printed  signs  on  elevated  railway      Printed  leaflets  (bulletins) 

Cards  in  street  cars  Parish  papers 

Handbills  Catalogue  of  church  activities 

Post  cards  Parades 

Circular  letters  Suppers 

Folders  Concerts 

Tickets  News  in  newspapers 

Envelope  stufifers  Paid  advertising  in  papers 

Hangers  Electric  signs 

Souvenirs  Announcements  on  movie  screens 

The  publicity  to  be  adopted  dei^ends  on  the  results 
sought  and  where  the  people  are.  Let  us  consider 
several  applications  of  church  publicity.  The  most 
natural  place  to  seek  more  members  of  a  Sunday 
school  is  in  the  church   congregation.     Among   the 


ANALYZING  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  21 

methods  of  reaching  this  ' 'market"  are  notices  in  the 
church  calendar,  or  announcements  from  the  pulpit 
(see  page  37),  homemade  posters  in  the  church  vesti- 
bule, oral  announcements  in  church  by  a  school 
officer,  letters  to  church  members  who  are  not  affili- 
ated with  the  school,  postal  reminders  of  the  time  of 
service  and  the  empty  chair  near  the  door  for  new- 
comers, social  events,  special  exercises  as  Children's 
Day  and  Rally  Day — all  of  which  ought  to  be  looked 
upon  as  possessing  good  advertising  possibilities  for 
new  members — telephone  calls,  personal  visits,  letters 
from  friends  urging  attendance,  news  of  the  special 
effort  in  the  papers,  inclusion  in  the  regular  church 
advertisement  of  the  statement  about  the  oppor- 
tunity to  study  the  Bible,  special  sermon  by  the 
pastor,  distribution  of  leaflets  on  rehgious  education 
and  Bible  study  from  denominational  headquarters, 
articles  in  the  parish  papers,  and  other  means  dis- 
tinctly local  as  occasion  offers. 

Every  church  or  Sunday  school  should  have  its 
possible  advertising  thus  listed.  Some  items  cost 
money,  others  do  not;  all  cost  brain  power,  and  none 
will  succeed  long  without  some  one  who  is  definitely 
committed  to  giving  the  subject  adequate  attention. 

Advertising  an  intangible  thing,  such  as  Christian 
stewardship,  looks  a  httle  more  difficult  than  adver- 
tising a  concrete  object  such  as  attendance  at  Sun- 
day school.  Here  are  some  of  the  ways  in  which 
stewardship  may  be  brought  to  the  attention  of  a 
congregation:  Special  sermon  by  the  pastor,  testi- 
mony in  three-minute  talks  by  tithers  at  each  service 


22  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

for  a  month,  items  in  the  church  calendar  of  the  bene- 
fits other  individuals  and  churches  have  derived, 
brief  statements  of  the  advantages  of  regular  versus 
hit-and-usually-miss  method  of  giving  to  church 
support,  Biblical  authority  coupled  with  not  too 
much  argument,  posters  made  by  a  Sunday-school 
class  (page  55),  leaflets  from  denominational  head- 
quarters sent  by  mail  or  left  in  pew,  circular  letter 
from  a  member  who  has  been  a  steward — not  a  blud- 
geon sort  of  communication,  but  setting  forth  the  joy 
of  giving.  Other  ways  will  occur  to  the  thinking 
reader. 

In  this  sort  of  propaganda  keep  the  mind  of  the 
reader  open  to  the  relatively  new  idea  and  be  careful 
not  to  antagonize  him  by  bringing  moral  pressure  to 
bear  too  soon.  Give  him  plenty  of  information  un- 
accompanied by  persuasion.  Permit  the  facts  to 
work  their  way  into  his  conscience.  Use  humor  if 
possible.  Many  a  man  has  been  brought  to  the 
point  of  action  against  his  former  will  when  his  risi- 
bles  have  been  touched. 

Both  these  examples  have  concerned  persons 
already  to  some  extent  in  the  church  organization. 
When  the  effort  is  to  add  new  members  to  the  Sunday 
school  from  those  outside  the  present  congregation, 
or  to  enlarge  the  size  of  the  congregation,  additional 
means  must  be  employed.  If  a  mailing  list  can  be 
obtained  of  persons  who  would  probably  be  interested 
in  what  you  have  for  "sale" — interest  in  Bible  study, 
child-training,  character-building,  and  the  like — 
then  the  path  of  the  United  States  mail  is  open.     The 


ANALYZING  PUBLICITY  PROBLEMS  23 

problem  remaining  is  that  of  '^copy/'  namely,  the 
preparation  of  the  material  best  adapted  to  reach 
their  minds.  The  word  of  caution  here  is  that  it  be 
written  from  the  standpoint  of  the  outside  man, 
with  a  minimum  of  the  language  of  Canaan. 

If  the  mailing  list  cannot  be  obtained,  appeal  must 
be  made  to  those  means  of  publicity  which  the  public 
generally  sees — signboards,  posters,  newspaper  ad- 
vertising. Inquiry  in  many  towns  will  show  that 
per  thousand  persons  reached,  paid  advertising  in 
the  newspapers  is  the  cheapest  medium.  The  ques- 
tions of  size  of  space  to  be  used  and  what  to  put  in  it 
are  discussed  in  Chapters  XI  and  XII. 


CHAPTER  II 

ADVERTISING  THE  CHURCH  OR  SUNDAY 
SCHOOL  TO  ITSELF 

INFORMATION  must  precede  interest.  Com- 
-■■  mercial  houses  recognize  this  fundamental  in  their 
elaborate  plans  for  house  organs  and  similar  means  of 
maintaining  the  institutional  morale.  In  the  same 
way  a  church  or  Sunday  school  will  be  more  inter- 
ested in  itself  if  it  knows  about  itself.  This  creation 
of  interest  should  precede  definite  efforts  to  obtain 
more  members,  and  must  continue  while  all  such 
efforts  are  in  progress.  Many  pastors  have  been 
following  this  idea  for  intrachurch  advertising  with- 
out attaching  that  label.  There  is  considerable  value 
in  the  further  analysis  and  extension  of  the  idea  if  the 
need  of  advertising  the  church  to  its  members  is  not 
strongly  felt. 

In  most  forms  of  advertising,  whether  in  the  church 
or  outside,  facts  are  needed  more  than  comment 
about  facts.  This  distinction  is  vital  to  good  adver- 
tising. We  arouse  enthusiasm  in  others,  not  so  much 
by  telling  them  that  we  are  enthusiastic  about  a  cer- 
tain thing,  as  by  presenting  the  facts  which  have 
aroused  us  to  the  point  of  intense  interest.  These 
facts  may  reasonably  have  the  same  influence  upon 
others. 

The  giving  of  facts  instead  of  opinions  tends  also 

24 


INTRACHURCH  ADVERTISING  25 

to  create  the  suggestive  style  of  advertising  rather 
than  the  argumentative.  If  the  exhaustive  tests  of 
psychologists  are  to  be  accepted,  the  latter  form  is 
much  more  effective. 


Come  along  with  me 
And  you  shall  see 
What  a  sweeping  success 
Our  social  will  be. 

A  Methodist  church  in  a  large  New  Jersey  town  used  this  as  the 
cover  of  a  small  four-page  folder  of  blue  paper  announcing  a  young 
people's  social. 

In  small  churches  individuals  know  each  other 
fairly  well.  They  know  when  Mrs.  Jones  is  sick  and 
when  Mr.  Brown  has  been  called  to  California  on 
account  of  the  death  of  his  mother.  Their  children 
tell  them  that  the  Christian  Endeavor  is  growing  in 


26  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

interest  and  they  observe  that  their  Sunday  school  has 
a  larger  attendance  than  usual.  In  larger  churches, 
however,  such  things  often  cannot  be  known  unless 
some  one  takes  the  trouble  to  tell  others.  This  can 
best  be  done  through  the  church  calendar,  which  is 
really  a  house  organ  of  the  congregation.  (See  Chap- 
ter IV.) 

Pastors  and  publicity  directors  can  assist  local 
churches  to  get  a  vision  of  the  work  outside  of  their 
four  walls  if  interesting  facts  concerning  the  denomi- 
nation are  given  attractive  publicity.  Does  your 
church  know,  for  example,  that  there  are  1181  con- 
gregations in  Korea,  all  of  which  are  entirely  self- 
supporting?  Or  suppose  the  following  statement 
were  chalked  on  a  blackboard  in  the  rear  of  the 
church,  without  comment,  would  not  foreign  missions 
be  made  more  interesting? 

There  are  449  native  preachers  and  teachers 
in  Siam.  Only  one  denomination  is  at  work 
there. 

How  many  members  of  your  congregation  know 
that  they  help  support  83  churches  among  the  Mexi- 
cans in  the  United  States,  or  that  they  maintain  203G 
schools  of  all  kinds  in  16  different  countries?  Do  you 
yourself  know  that  there  are  77  hospitals  and  98  dis- 
pensaries in  9  foreign  countries,  all  officered  by  phy- 
sicians and  nurses  supported  by  you  and  9078  other 
churches  of  your  denomination  in  this  country? 

Put  one  of  these  facts  (corrected  for  your  church) 
each  week  in  your  church  calendar  or  on  a  home- 


INTRACHURCH  ADVERTISING  27 

made  poster  or  on  a  blackboard  where  church  at- 
tendants can  see  it.  If  this  plan  is  followed  for  six 
months,  there  ought  to  be  a  marked  growth  in  mis- 
sion interest.  These  and  scores  of  other  facts  for  any 
denomination  may  be  obtained  from  annual  reports 
of  mission  boards.  The  digging  up  of  such  material 
might  be  a  helpful  exercise  for  some  class  in  the  Sun- 
day school  or  for  the  young  people's  society.  Church 
magazines  have  similar  items  which  may  be  tersely 
stated  for  easy  absorption  by  church  attendants. 

Base  Interest  on  Facts 

Facts,  as  distinguished  from  comment,  constitute 
the  basis  of  interest,  whether  the  effort  be  made 
through  the  ear  or  through  the  eye.  The  oral  an- 
nouncements of  the  superintendent  of  a  Sunday 
school  or  of  a  department  ought  to  have  as  many 
facts  as  possible.  If  the  notices  for  a  certain  Sunday 
are  put  in  writing  and  then  analyzed  closely  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  percentage  of  facts  to  the  number 
of  words  of  appeal  and  persuasion,  the  officer  who  is 
not  painstaking  may  make  an  interesting  discovery. 
The  form  in  which  oral  announcements  may  best  be 
made  so  as  to  attract  attention  is  discussed  in  the 
next  chapter. 

The  annual  reports  of  a  church  or  Sunday  school 
constitute  an  excellent  opportunity  to  ^'sell"  the 
organization  to  itself.  The  figures  for  the  year 
should  be  given,  but  if  they  are  interpreted  in  terms 
of  flesh  and  blood  instead  of  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  man  who  has  spent  hours  making  his  accounts 


28     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

balance,  the  effect  on  the  audience  will  be  more  stimu- 
lating. Seldom  is  a  good  accounting  officer  so  con- 
stituted that  he  can  interpret  his  bare  figures  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  furnish  the  greatest  possible  amount 
of  inspiration  and  enthusiasm. 

Some  churches  use  the  stereopticon  lantern  to  good 
advantage  at  the  annual  meeting.  One  city  church 
has  its  meeting  in  January,  and  the  pastor  takes  de- 
Hght  in  throwing  upon  the  screen,  between  sHdes  of 
figures  setting  forth  the  work  of  the  year,  uncon- 
ventional poses  of  men  and  women  prominent  in 
the  congregation.  Pictures  of  the  chairman  of  the 
board  of  trustees  taken  by  a  friend  at  Atlantic  City, 
of  a  group  of  Camp  Fire  girls  on  a  summer  picnic,  and 
of  the  president  of  the  ladies'  aid  entering  her  auto- 
mobile, added  life  to  the  meeting  and  helped  to  ce- 
ment the  bonds  of  good  fellowship.  Anything  which 
will  stimulate  the  feeling  that  each  person  is  part  of 
a  big  whole,  and  is  needed  in  his  place,  adds  to  the 
sohdarity  of  the  school  or  congregation. 

Posters,  the  hpmemade  sort  described  in  Chapter  V, 
ought  to  be  used  largely  in  selling  the  various  organi- 
zations to  themselves.  The  blackboard  may  be  used 
to  advantage  in  the  same  connection.  The  mere 
figures  of  the  number  of  persons  late  to  Sunday 
school,  or  the  percentage  on  time,  with  a  query  as 
to  the  number  who  will  be  on  time  next  week,  has 
been  enough  in  some  schools  to  bring  the  pupils  to 
school  more  nearly  at  the  time  of  opening.  A  black- 
board with  plotted  curves  showing  attendance  this 
year  and  last  also  adds  to  the  interest. 


INTRACHURCH  ADVERTISING 


29 


Printed  or  mimeographed  post  cards  mailed  to 
absentees  or  to  certain  groups  help  to  keep  interest 
at  a  high  pitch.  The  arrangement  of  matter  on  such 
cards  should  follow  the  rules  suggested  in  Chapters 
X  and  XII  for  similar  material. 

The  chiu-ch  or  school  will  be  an  informed  organiza- 
tion usually  to  the  extent  to  which  the  pastor  or 


THURSDAY  NIGHT 


keep 


"Put 

the  Spirit 

of 

Youth 

in 

Everything" 


a  date  with  us  on  Thursday  night 


VV7E  young  folks  at  First  Presbyterian  CKurcK 
are  nov*  gathering  every  Thursday  night  at 
one  of  our  homes.  It  is  more  convenient  than 
Sunday  night,  and  a  lot  more  sociable,  too. 
The  sender  of  thifi  card  cordially  invites  you  /o  our 
next  meeting.  If  you  have  already  met  vnth  vs,  let 
this  be  a  gentle  reminder  of  a  pleasant  evening  you 
can  help  us  have  next  Thursday  night  at  the  home  of 


Young  People   of   the  First    Presbyterian    Church 

Portsmouth,  Ohio 


This  was  printed  in  brown  and  blue  on  a  buff  card  and  helped  to 
interest  the  young  people. 


superintendent  is  himself  informed  about  the  facts  of 
his  denomination  and  the  general  mission  trend  of 
the  Church  universal.  It  is  not  enough  to  be  en- 
thusiastic and  earnest.  The  leaders  must  know. 
Questions  put  to  ministers  and  laymen  alike  at 
meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  country  show  that 
usually  less  than  10  per  cent  of  the  individuals  pres- 
ent know  simple  facts  about  the  number  of  foreign 


30  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

missionaries  in  the  denomination,  what  is  the  per 
capita  gift  to  missions  of  the  congregation  or  the 
denomination  and  how  that  figure  compares  with  the 
preceding  year.  These  may  not  be  the  most  im- 
portant facts  one  should  know  about  a  church  or 
Sunday  school.  But  ignorance  on  these  points 
usually  indicates  lack  of  information  about  other 
phases  of  the  church's  work.  Without  facts  in  the 
possession  of  the  leaders  the  people  cannot  become 
informed.  If  you  are  a  pastor  or  other  chm-ch  leader, 
search  out  the  reports  of  your  denomination,  of  your 
own  congregation  or  Sunday  school,  and  know  what 
your  own  organization  is  doing.  The  more  digging 
you  do,  the  more  interesting  facts  you  are  likely  to 
uncover  to  stimulate  the  mental  processes  and  enlist 
the  interest  of  your  congregation  or  school. 

Test  yourself.  What  was  the  per  capita  offering 
of  your  church  last  year?  of  your  Sunday  school? 
What  was  the  average  attendance  the  last  six  months 
at  the  morning  preaching  service — not  estimated, 
but  actual?  How  does  this  compare  with  that  for 
the  same  time  last  year?  Is  the  attendance  actually 
increasing,  or  do  the  ushers  seat  the  people  more 
skillfully  so  that  the  pastor  is  less  embarrassed  by 
empty  seats?  A  high-school  boy  standing  at  the 
back  of  the  church  can  obtain  the  figures.  Facts 
are  stubborn,  but  helpful  if  interpreted  rightly. 
Some  of  the  denominations,  by  suggesting  various 
goals,  are  helping  to  bring  congregations  to  higher 
levels  of  giving  and  working.  But  much  depends 
upon  the  informed  endeavor  of  the  local  officers. 


INTRACHURCH  ADVERTISING 31 

Why  not  help  your  church  to  work  in  the  homes 
of  the  people  by  providing  attractively  arranged 
and  printed  booklets  about  the  congregation?  One 
church  used  the  back  page  of  its  weekly  calendar  for 
several  months  to  publish  the  aun  and  history  of 
each  of  the  organizations  of  the  church.  It  was  a 
large  congregation  and  the  information  was  news  to 
many  attendants.  Perhaps  you  think  your  people 
know  more  than  they  do  about  the  facts  of  the  or- 
ganization of  which  they  are  members. 

Possibly  if  the  people  who  have  drifted  out  the 
back  door  of  your  church  or  Sunday  school  had 
known  more  about  the  activities  of  the  organization, 
they  would  be  still  at  work  instead  of  outside  scoff- 
ing. A  prominent  young  Socialist  admitted  that  he 
had  been  a  regular  attendant  at  church.  His  grand- 
father was  a  Methodist  missionary  in  India.  Yet  he 
confessed  that  he  did  not  know  of  the  social  work 
missionaries  are  doing  in  India,  Siam,  and  Brazil  to 
raise  the  standard  of  living  of  the  people — just  what 
some  Socialists  are  seeking  to  do  in  this  country.  If 
he  had  been  well  informed  concerning  mission  work 
while  still  allied  to  a  Christian  church,  he  might  have 
been  saved  to  lend  the  energy  of  his  sincere  devotion 
to  the  banner  of  Christ.  Perhaps  the  churches  are 
failing  to  give  information  while  seeking  to  apply  the 
moral  imperative  to  life's  actions.  How  much  do 
your  people  know  about  your  church?  Compose  a 
simple  sheet  of  questions  and  ask  ten  average  mem- 
bers. Suggest  that  they  do  not  sign  the  answers  and 
seek  to  get  a  frank  reply.     It  may  be  enlightening. 


32  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Take  your  Sunday  schooL  How  many  of  the 
members  know  of  the  really  helpful  social  service 
effort  being  made  by  your  men's  class?  That  group 
meets  in  the  basement  room  and  is  perhaps  heard  of 
only  four  times  during  the  winter  when  its  members 
eat  together.  Yet  they  are  part  of  the  organization, 
and  although  the  arrangement  of  the  building  is  such 
that  the  entire  school  cannot  meet  together,  the 
effect  of  union  may  be  approximated  by  frequent  dis- 
tribution in  each  department  of  items  about  the  work 
of  all  departments. 

Publicity  Program  for  a  Sunday  School 
The  following  is  a  suggested  program  for  a  yearns 
publicity  for  a  Sunday  school.  It  may  be  adapted 
to  a  school  of  any  size,  no  matter  how  meager  the 
means  of  announcing  the  various  events.  It  may  be 
shaped  to  the  possible  market  and  the  means  of 
reaching  it.  This  plan  is  obviously  only  suggestive. 
January — Be  sure  that  some  report  is  made  from 
the  Christmas  gifts  sent  to  others  by  the  school.  A 
letter  from  a  missionary  read  at  the  opening  service 
may  suffice.  If  the  school  is  asked  to  join  in  local 
evangelistic  services,  posters  on  the  bulletin  board 
may  be  used.     Emphasize  the  singing. 

February — Interest  should  be  at  high  point  this 
month.  See  that  the  church  congregation  is  kept 
informed  of  the  progress  of  the  school.  An  item, 
short  and  crisp,  each  week  in  the  calendar  or  among 
the  pulpit  notices  will  keep  the  school  in  the  minds 
of  the  congregation.     Perhaps  a  ''Recruiting  Day'^ 


INTRACHURCH  ADVERTISING  33 

might  be  arranged  for  the  school.  Use  post  cards, 
bulletins,  and  other  special  notices,  in  addition  to 
personal  work. 

March — Plan  wisely  for  Easter.  Help  to  keep  the 
attendance  stable  by  frequent  references  to  the  com- 
ing special  day,  giving  out  details  slowly  so  that 
interest  will  be  sustained.  Plan,  if  possible,  for  some 
printed  matter  which  can  be  carried  to  the  homes  of 
pupils.  A  special  church  calendar  may  be  feasible. 
The  school  should  have  some  part  in  the  church  serv- 
ices of  the  week,  and  this  part  should  be  emphasized 
in  announcements  to  the  congregation  both  before 
and  after  the  day. 

April — Like  the  advertising  manager  of  a  depart- 
ment store,  who  originates  challenge  sales,  clearance 
sales,  and  mark-down  sales,  the  Publicity  Committee 
of  the  Sunday  school  must  find  special  talking  points. 
Perhaps  a  Boy  Scout  Day  and  a  Camp  Fire  Day  with 
the  boys  and  girls  in  their  uniforms  may  be  arranged. 
Work  up  interest  in  Children's  Week.  Parents  will 
be  apt  to  visit  the  school  to  see  the  honor  paid  to 
their  children.  Cards,  bulletins,  and  notices  should 
be  used  to  call  attention  to  this  day,  all  printed  mat- 
ter keeping  sight  of  the  fact  that  this  is  a  school  to 
study  the  Bible. 

May — Children's  Day  provides  a  good  opportunity 
to  do  something  special  to  attract  attention  to  the 
school.  Let  every  parent  be  invited,  and  let  the 
invitation  be  sufficiently  specific  as  to  the  program 
so  they  will  want  to  come.  Make  it  informal,  too, 
— not  a  mere  list  of  recitations  and  songs. 
3 


34  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

June — Let  the  Publicity  Committee  lay  plans  to 
help  maintain  interest  in  the  school  during  the  sum- 
mer. Refer  more  or  less  vaguely  to  special  events  in 
July  and  August.  A  little  attention  to  patriotism 
on  the  Sunday  nearest  July  4  will  give  an  excuse  for  a 
Patriotic  Day,  with  reports  in  local  papers  before  and 
after. 

July — Perhaps  your  picnic  comes  this  month. 
Here  the  tone  of  the  announcements  may  be  more 
informal.  ^'Remember  that  good  watermelon  feast 
last  year?  Well,  there's  to  be  another,"  or,  "The  best 
pie  mother  ever  baked  will  be  part  of  the  eats  at  the 
picnic,"  or,  "The  gang  will  all  be  there,"  "The  best 
picnic  of  all  the  year  is  the  Sunday-school  frolic." 
Similar  phrases  may  be  used.  Let  the  papers  know 
about  it,  too. 

August — Plan  for  Rally  Day.  Don't  take  a  vaca- 
tion. Publicity  Committee,  until  your  plans  for  this 
important  day  are  well  matured.  Keep  changing  the 
announcements  and  references  to  it  on  the  school 
bulletin  board. 

September — A  Sunday-school  parade  is  used  in 
many  cities  with  good  publicity  effect;  it  advertises 
the  school,  and  gives  the  children  a  chance  to  be  "in 
something."  There  is  also  a  good  chance  for  news- 
paper stories.  Alumni  Day  or  Shut-Ins'  Day  may 
follow  Rally  Day  and  serve  to  keep  interest  alive. 

October — Try  to  get  all  schools  in  town  to  join  in  a 
Clo-to-Sunday-School  Day.  This  is  the  best  possible 
advertisement  for  religious  education,  as  it  tends  to 
keep  Protestants  united  and  gives  friendly  editors 


INTRACHURCH  ADVERTISING  35 

good  opportunity  for  frequent  stories  about  the  plan. 
Be  sure  that  every  visitor  is  welcomed.  In  many 
places  it  will  be  worth  while  to  distribute  to  all  at- 
tendants a  booklet  telling  about  the  departments  of 
work  of  the  school  and  the  church. 

November — Build  up  the  school  by  having  an  On- 
Time  Day.  Introduce  it  four  or  five  weeks  in  ad- 
vance by  reports  on  the  percentage  of  tardiness. 
On  the  Sunday  previous  drive  home  the  thought  of 
being  on  time  by  asking  those  who  were  on  time  to 
rise  and  recite  together,  "We  expect  to  be  on  time 
next  Sunday."  If  desirable,  post  cards  may  be  sent 
to  each  pupil  during  the  week;  these  should  also 
bear  some  invitation  to  other  members  of  the  family, 
thus  furnishing  an  excuse  to  advertise  Bible  study  in 
homes  where  the  Bible  may  not  be. greatly  honored. 

December — Plan  carefully  for  Christmas.  The 
Publicity  Committee  can  do  as  much  as  anyone  to 
stress  the  thought  of  giving  to  others.  "Whom  are 
you  going  to  make  happy  this  year?"  "Are  you 
saving  your  nickels  for  that  gift  to  the  children  at  the 
mission?"  or  some  such  statement  may  be  enough  to 
keep  the  matter  in  mind.  If  your  school  is  in  a 
locality  where  few  of  the  parents  go  to  church,  make 
Christmas  a  time  when  definitely  Christian  literature 
is  taken  home  by  the  children. 


CHAPTER  III 

ORAL  ANNOUNCEMENTS 

rpHE  pastor,  Sunday-school  superintendent,  or 
^  presiding  officer  in  a  society  of  any  sort  is  really 
a  human  bulletin  board  when  the  time  for  announce- 
ments comes  around.  In  some  churches  and  other 
religious  organizations  the  announcements  are  not 
made  by  the  man  who  is  on  the  platform  most  of  the 
time.  Another  voice  is  called  into  use  and  the  notices 
are  given  by  this  person,  who  has  no  other  part  of  the 
service. 

This  innovation  solves  the  difficulty  of  which  all  pas- 
tors are  conscious:  the  appearance  of  the  same  person 
in  many  roles  detracts  from  each  of  the  parts  he  has  to 
play.  If  the  pastor  must  read  or  recite  eight  or  ten  an- 
nouncements of  meetings  to  be  held  during  the  week 
and  then  begin  his  sermon,  the  effect  on  his  hearers  is 
less  impressive  than  if  a  competent  person  from  the 
audience  makes  the  announcements,  before  the  min- 
ister preaches. 

This  novelty  value  must  always  be  kept  in  mind, 
and  yet  the  pastor  who  does  not  have  a  printed  cal- 
endar is  limited  in  the  variety  he  may  introduce. 
He  has,  however,  the  advantage  which  comes  from 
the  personality  value  of  the  spoken  over  the  written 
word.  If  the  pastor  or  Sunday-school  superin- 
tendent realizes  that  the  announcements  he  makes 

36 


ORAL  ANNOUNCEMENTS  37 

each  week  really  are  advertisements,  and  seeks  to 
make  their  wording  conform  to  the  laws  of  advertis- 
ing, he  will  get  best  results. 

The  first  law  to  remember  is  that  of  attention. 
Order  in  the  school  may  be  improved  if  pupils  have 
been  taught  by  experience  that  when  the  time  for 
announcements  arrives,  the  superintendent  will  have 
something  worth  hearing.  The  item  or  fact  which 
will  have  the  greatest  interest  for  the  greatest  num- 
ber should  be  put  first.  Seek  for  the  newest  thing, 
and  find  something  new  in  the  oldest  notice.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  notices  must  be  long.  The 
more  crisp  and  pungent  they  are,  the  more  likely 
they  are  to  receive  attention.  But  they  must  have 
interest. 

This  means  that  the  pastor  in  telling  the  morning 
congregation  about  the  evening  sermon  must  put 
some  thought  on  his  announcement.  A  sermon  to 
empty  pews  does  little  good.  Perhaps  half  an  hour 
taken  from  the  preparation  of  the  discourse  and  ap- 
plied to  ways  of  attracting  people  to  hear  it  would  be 
well  spent.  Never  leave  until  the  last  minute  the 
phrasing  of  an  oral  notice  of  any  important  meeting 
of  the  church  for  which  you  ask  the  attention  of  the 
congregation. 

There  is  something  in  every  sermon  which  can  be 
used  as  a  barb  in  the  announcement  to  hook  the  at- 
tention of  the  audience.  Find  that  barb  and  put  it 
in  the  first  phrases  of  the  announcement. 

Even  the  announcement  of  the  midweek  service 
should  not  fall  into  mechanical  phrases  which  indi- 


38  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

cate  that  the  pastor  has  lost  hope  of  ever  getting 
more  than  a  handful  to  that  meeting.  Arouse  inter- 
est by  telling  just  a  word  of  some  interesting  fact  of 
last  week's  meeting,  ask  a  pointed  question  about  the 
subject  to  be  discussed  the  coming  week,  or  announce 
the  names  of  those  who  will  take  part.  The  regular 
services  of  the  church  tend  to  get  into  a  rut,  especially 
in  small  churches,  and  the  members  tacitly  assume 
that  because  the  attendance  is  small  it  always  will  be. 
The  pastor  adopts  the  same  attitude,  and  a  pall  of  in- 
activity crystallizes  into  a  shell  of  imperviousness  to 
new  ideas. 

A  little  touch  of  life,  of  novelty  or  energy,  may  re- 
vive the  spirits  of  the  church.  Add  this  to  plans  for 
organizing  the  congregation  on  the  group  system, 
plan  some  social  gatherings  or  other  new  feature,  and 
before  the  pastor  is  aware  of  it  the  germ  of  publicity 
will  be  working  and  forcing  the  church  to  strong  and 
stable  growth.  Decay  sets  in  when  activity  ceases. 
The  pastor  in  his  set  manner  of  making  announce- 
ments may  have  large  responsibility  in  hindering  the 
life  of  the  church. 

This  does  not  mean  that  sensationalism  is  to  be 
employed,  but  ordinary  ingenuity  in  putting  to  the 
front  the  most  interesting  phase  of  a  coming  meeting 
or  event — the  application  of  psychology.  As  you 
read  Chapter  IV,  think  of  your  own  church  or  Sun- 
day school  and  your  notices  for  next  Sunday.  Prac- 
tice each  week  giving  the  most  interest-compelling 
announcements  you  can  evolve.  Do  this  until  the 
liabit  of  seeking  a  new  way  of  saying  an  old  thing 


ORAL  ANNOUNCEMENTS  39 

becomes  fixed.  Such  a  habit  has  helped  many  per- 
sons out  of  ruts  in  conducting  services  or  in  handhng 
the  Sunday-school  lesson  from  the  platform. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  pastor  and  the 
Sunday-school  superintendent  applies  in  his  own  field 
to  the  Sunday-school  teacher  and  to  the  leader  of 
every  organization  of  the  church.  When  the  Browns 
paint  their  picket  fence,  every  passer-by  notices  it,  but 
when  the  passer-by  has  gone  that  way  the  fourth  or 
fifth  time,  the  new  paint  has  lost  its  novelty  and  is 
no  longer  noticed.  Paint  your  notices  fresh  each  week, 
and  see  if  they  don't  accomplish  just  a  little  more 
good  than  formerly. 


CHAPTER  IV 

CALENDARS,  BULLETINS,  AND  PAPERS 

npHE  printed  weekly  calendar  is  at  once  an  order 
-■'  of  service,  a  newspaper,  and  a  ''house  organ."  It 
occupies  an  important  place  in  the  upbuilding  of  any 
congregation.  Members  are  not  likely  to  grow 
enthusiastic  about  their  church  unless  they  know 
about  it,  and  the  average  church  of  five  hundred  or 
so  members  has  a  dozen  meetings  a  week  about  which 
those  not  present  cannot  know.  The  weekly  budget 
of  news  in  the  calendar  gives  them  facts  and  helps  to 
cement  the  congregation  into  an  efficient  working 
unit. 

Most  bulletins  or  calendars  are  printed.  Some  are 
made  on  the  church's  mimeograph.  This  is  an  ex- 
cellent plan  for  the  small  church,  provided  the  labor 
of  issuing  them  does  not  fall  on  an  already  overbur- 
dened pastor.  A  stenographer  of  the  congregation 
working  a  few  hours  Friday  evening,  or  a  high-school 
girl  on  Saturday  afternoon,  can  do  this  work. 

The  form  of  the  bulletin,  especially  the  arrange- 
ment of  type,  should  be  carefully  studied.  Com- 
parison with  the  printed  bulletins  of  other  churches 
will  be  helpful.  The  Presbyterian  Church,  and  per- 
haps other  denominations,  has  agencies  to  advise 
pastors  on  all  printed  matter. 

Attractive  subheads  will  assist  members  of  the 

40 


CALENDARS,  BULLETINS,  AND  PAPERS         41 

church  to  grasp  the  essential  points.  The  Une  of 
type  also  should  not  exceed  three  and  a  half  inches  if 
the  matter  is  set  in  eight  point  or  smaller. 

Most  church  calendars  are  nine  by  six  inches,  four 
pages.  More  than  half  are  arranged  so  that  pages 
1  and  4  are  the  same  each  week,  pages  2  and  3  being 
changed  regularly. 

Plan  Illustrations  with  Care 
A  large  number  of  calendars  put  a  picture  of  the 
church  on  the  first  page.  Some,  however,  have  this 
cut  made  from  an  amateur  photograph  in  which  the 
lines  are  not  perpendicular.  In  other  cases  the  pic- 
ture is  taken  from  a  disadvantageous  angle,  and 
sometimes  the  cut  is  made  from  the  entire  photo- 
graph, so  that  a  large  expanse  of  street  in  front  ap- 
pears, or  several  neighboring  houses  which  are  not 
needed.  Their  inclusion  detracts  from  the  attention 
which  ought  to  be  centered  on  the  church  itself. 
Best  results  may  be  obtained  by  marking  the  photo- 
graph before  the  cut  is  made  so  that  only  essential 
portions  of  the  picture  are  reproduced. 

Some  churches  use  merely  the  tower  of  the  church, 
or  the  entrance,  or  a  portion  of  a  window,  instead 
of  the  whole  building.  Sometimes  this  is  used  fre- 
quently enough  in  all  printing  to  become  a  trade- 
mark of  the  church.  Best  results  in  this  connection 
may  be  obtained  by  having  a  drawing  and  zinc  etch- 
ing made  of  such  portions  of  the  building,  rather  than 
using  a  half-tone. 

A  growing  number  of  churches  has  adopted  the 


42  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

commendable  method  of  setting  the  order  of  service 
in  a  column  which  is  only  half  the  width  of  the  page. 
This  puts  the  morning  and  evening  service  orders 
opposite  each  other  and  saves  space  which  is  wasted 


Good  example  of  use  of  church  tower  in  place  of  picture  of  entire 
church  on  cover  of  church  bulletin. 


if  the  line  of  blank  space  is  allowed  after  ''Invoca- 
tion" or  ''Doxology."  Some  editors  put  all  the  mat- 
ter in  a  line  about  two  inches  wide. 

Some  progressive  churches  print  all  four  pages  of 
new  matter  each  week  and  begin  the  news  of  the 


CALENDARS,  BULLETINS,  AND  PAPERS         43 

parish  on  the  first  page,  condensing  into  small  space 
items  of  routine  information  about  the  church. 

Every  publication,  in  order  to  have  a  definite 
character  which  will  commend  itself  to  the  readers 
to  whom  it  is  addressed,  must  adopt  a  certain  policy 

MORNING  WORSHIP— II  A.  M.       EVENING    FORUM— 7:30  P.  M. 


Mrs.  A.  W.  Tyler,  Chorister 

Organ  Prelude — "Andante  Pas- 
torale " Alexis 

Invocation. 

Lord's  Prayer. 

Gloria. 

Responsive  Reading — 44. 

Hymn— 139. 

Scripture  Lesson. 

Morning  Prayer. 

(Choir  Response) 
Anthem — "Serve  the  Lord  with 

Gladness  " Heyser 

Announcements. 

Offertory.— "  Solitude    On    the 

Mountain  " Saunier 

(Choir  Response) 
Offering. 
Sermon — "  Thanksgiving  for  our 

Most  Priceless  Possession  " 
Hymn— 708. 
Benediction. 
Organ  Postlude — Processional 

March Parker 


Mrs.  A.  C.  Baker,  Organist 

Prelude— "Barcarolle"  from 
"  Tales  of  Hoffmann." 

Hymn— 138. 

Invocation. 

Hymn— 68. 

Responsive  Reading— 340. 

Evening  Prayer. 

Special  Music. 

Announcements. 

Offering. 

Offertory — Offertory  in  G....Loud 

Address—"  Woe  Unto  You, 
Scribes  and  Pharisees." 

Solo—"  The  Ninety  and  Nine  " 
Ira  D.  Sankey 

Mrs.  A.  W.  Tyler 

Benediction. 

Postlude — Allegro  Pomposo 

Galbraith 


Usually  only  half  as  much  space  is  required  when  the  order  of 
service  is  set  in  half  measure  as  here. 


and  style  of  material  and  maintain  that  in  each  num- 
ber. A  bulletin  should  have  a  character  of  its  own. 
It  should  not  be  merely  a  reflection  of  the  pastor. 
His  reenforcement  of  an  item  which  the  bulletin  con- 
tains will  be  much  more  effective  if  the  printed  mes- 
sage be  something  other  than  a  mere  personal  plea 


44  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

from  the  pastor  to  his  people.  In  other  words,  a 
church  calendar  should  be  run  on  the  principle  of  the 
news  columns  of  a  newspaper  rather  than  that  of  the 
editorial  columns. 

The  material  for  the  most  part  should  be  state- 
ments of  facts  and  not  of  opinions.  In  the  long  run 
much  more  will  be  accomplished  for  the  church  if 
this  method  is  adopted  than  if  each  notice  ends  with 
such  a  phrase  as  "Everyone  is  urged  to  be  present.'^ 
Pastors  who  have  had  experience  in  writing  news  for 
the  papers  know  that  editors  like  facts  in  condensed 
form,  which  involves  writing  the  most  important  fact 
in  the  fii'st  sentence,  and  putting  in  the  first  part  of 
the  first  sentence  the  nub  of  the  whole  matter. 
Thus  if  the  time  element  is  most  important,  the  news 
article  or  item  for  the  calendar  should  begin,  "At  10 
o'clock  Tuesday  morning. '^ 

Every  item  in  the  calendar  should  have  the  object 
of  interesting  persons  in  the  congregation.  This 
interest  will  be  obtained  most  easily  by  putting  in  the 
first  sentence  the  point  of  greatest  moment.  An 
item  in  one  church  calendar  reads:  "The  last  meet- 
ing of  the  study  class  will  be  held  Friday  at  the  home 
of  Mrs.  John  Emerson,  Blank  Street.  A  social  hour 
will  follow.  A  large  attendance  is  desired."  This 
may  be  the  best  way  of  expressing  these  facts.  But 
here  is  another  way.  See  which  you  think  would 
get  the  largest  attendance:  "If  you  have  attended 
the  mission  study  class,  you  will  wish  to  be  present 
at  the  final  meeting  of  the  class  with  a  social  hour, 
Friday,  April  9,  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  John  Emerson, 
Blank  Street." 


CALENDARS,  BULLETINS,  AND  PAPERS         45 

In  the  same  way  this  notice  might  be  improved: 
"The  regular  meeting  of  the  foreign  mission  society 
will  be  held  on  Tuesday  in  the  church  parlors  and 
.  .  .  leader  .  .  .  special  feature  of  the  pro- 
gram.'^ If  there  is  a  special  feature,  why  not  put 
that  special  feature  first?  To  say  that  a  regular 
meeting  will  be  held  is  interesting  only  to  the  regular 
attendants.  The  purpose  of  the  notice  ought  to  be 
to  attract  the  women  who  do  not  go  to  regular  meet- 
ings. They  will  be  more  interested  in  the  special 
feature.     Put  your  best  foot  forward. 

Before  you  write  another  item  for  your  church 
calendar  ask  yourself  what  is  the  fact  of  most  interest 
to  your  readers  in  connection  with  what  you  are  about 
to  say,  and  put  that  first.  Let  the  other  facts  fall  in 
the  order  of  their  importance. 

Get  Facts  by  Digging 

The  writing  of  the  best  items  involves  the  obtaining 
of  definite  facts,  facts  which  are  not  generally  known, 
but  which  will  be  interesting  to  persons  you  are  try- 
ing to  reach.  These  may  be  received  through  an 
organization  of  reporters  in  each  society  of  the  church. 
If  they  bring  weekly  brief  statements  of  what  has 
been  happening  and  is  going  to  happen  in  their  de- 
partments, and  this  material  be  edited  carefully, 
there  will  be  room  in  the  bulletin  for  the  most  im- 
portant things,  and  the  least  important  may  be 
given  smaller  space. 

Pastors  who  have  tried,  know  that  the  writing  of 
headings  which  are  summaries  of  the  facts,  rather 
than  mere  labels,  receive  most  attention. 


46  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Instead  of  heading  the  last  item  given  above 
' 'Women's  Missionary  Society/'  the  heading  might 
have  been,  ''Mrs.  C.  D.  James  Will  Speak,"  Mrs. 
James  being  the  special  feature  of  the  program. 
Daily  newspapers  have  a  rule  that  every  heading 
must  contain  an  active  verb.  This  is  an  excellent 
fact  to  remember  in  preparing  matter  for  church 
papers. 

Another  rule  which  is  equally  good  in  this  con- 
nection is  that  suggestion  is  more  effective  than  argu- 
ment. To  make  a  man  want  to  go  to  the  next  men's 
dinner  will  get  him  there  faster  than  by  merely  say- 
ing, "All  men  expected."  Create  the  desire  in  a 
man's  breast  for  the  fellowship  and  the  program  and 
he  will  come. 

Editing  a  Monthly  Paper 
The  editing  of  a  monthly  paper  involves  an  exten- 
sion of  the  requirements  needed  for  a  weekly  calendar 
or  bulletin.  In  the  monthly  there  usually  is  more 
room.  This  means  opportunity  for  longer  articles. 
Here  the  danger  is  to  be  noted  of  printing  articles 
longer  than  will  hold  the  interest  of  the  reader. 
Merely  because  a  certain  speech  or  article  contained 
fifteen  hundred  words  is  no  reason  why  it  all  should 
be  printed  in  the  monthly  church  or  Sunday-school 
paper.  The  editor  should  have  courage  to  eliminate 
those  parts  deemed  least  interesting  to  his  readers. 
The  editor  is  in  his  chair  to  edit,  and  he  should  not 
fail  thi'ough  fear  to  exercise  the  functions  of  his  office. 
Some  one  must  be  responsible  for  every  publication, 


CALENDARS,  BULLETINS,  AND  PAPERS         47 

and  that  some  one  must  be  autocratic.  His  authority 
should  not  be  questioned.  If  he  is  a  poor  editor,  get 
another;  but  permit  the  man  or  woman  who  holds  the 
place  to  be  a  real  editor. 

The  editor  must  use  constant  ingenuity  to  discover 
articles  and  news  which  will  interest.  There  is  little 
use  in  printing  matter  which  will  not  be  read,  and 
every  article  in  any  publication  which  is  not  read  by 
a  considerable  number  tends  by  that  much  to  dull 
the  desire  for  the  next  copy  of  that  paper.  Editors 
must  protect  the  reputation  of  their  paper  for  print- 
ing only  that  which  is  interesting — and  interesting  to 
the  majority  of  readers,  not  to  the  writer  of  a  particu- 
lar article. 

Editing  a  manuscript  means  making  it  conform  to 
the  style  of  the  paper  as  to  capitalization  and  punctua- 
tion, supplying  attractive  headlines,  and  eliminating 
superfluous  matter.  If  an  article  submitted  has  a  dull 
title,  there  is  no  reason  why  an  editor  should  weary 
his  readers  with  it.  If  a  more  attractive  title  will  im- 
prove the  article,  put  it  on.  If  the  article  will  be  more 
readable  by  eliminating  three  fourths  of  the  introduc- 
tion, use  the  blue  pencil.  The  editor  is  working  for  his 
readers,  not  for  his  contributors.  Of  course,  the  style 
of  the  author  should  be  retained  and  his  ideas  not 
changed. 

Variety  of  matter  provides  more  ^^hooks"  on  which 
to  catch  the  interest  of  the  reader.  Let  the  matter  in 
each  issue  be  varied,  both  as  to  interest  and  length  of 
items.  Four-line  fillers  are  often  read  before  page 
articles.     Fillers  are  always  needed  for  '^make  up." 


48  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

When  material  runs  to  two  pages,  it  is  usually  time 
to  stop.  Interest  can  seldom  be  sustained  longer, 
and  if  the  reader  is  not  interested  he  tosses  the  paper 
aside.  Good  ideas  concealed  in  the  last  pages  of  the 
paper  may  be  lost. 

Items  about  people  always  have  interest.  Coun- 
try newspaper  editors  usually  enforce  the  rule  that 
an  item  must  interest  at  least  ten  persons  in  order  to 
find  a  place  in  their  columns.  '^Every  name  printed 
means  a  subscriber"  is  another  favorite  slogan  of 
country  editors.  From  many  standpoints  the  parish 
paper  is  a  country  newspaper. 

Careful  editors  will  examine  every  item  offered  to 
see  how  many  words  can  be  eliminated  without  spoil- 
ing either  ideas  or  sense.  Many  persons  are  prolix. 
Often  a  general  statement  is  followed  by  a  particular 
statement,  and  by  putting  the  second  first,  there  is  no 
need  of  the  original  opening  sentence.  Every  line 
saved  means  space  for  more  news,  and  often  a  word 
means  a  line.     Pare  the  matter  closely. 

Good  Make-Up  Is  Important 
To  a  great  degree  the  attractiveness  of  a  paper  of 
any  sort  depends  upon  careful  ''make-up."  This 
involves  placing  headings  near  the  top  of  the  page, 
using  filler  at  the  bottom  of  the  previous  page  to 
force  a  long  article  to  the  top.  Headings  should 
be  large  enough  to  give  distinction  to  worthy  articles. 
When  an  article  is  worth  a  page  of  space,  it  should 
usually  have  a  heading  across  the  entire  page,  not  a 
single-column  heading.     Headings  of  the  same  rela- 


CALENDARS,  BULLETINS,  AND  PAPERS         49 

tive  importance  should  have  uniformity  as  to  size  and 
arrangement  if  a  paper  is  to  have  the  character  of  a 
well-edited  sheet.  If  items  three  or  four  inches  long 
carry  a  heading  of  one  full  line  in  capitals  and  a  line 

"One   Is  your  Master  even   Christ  and   all   ye  are   Brethren."— Matt.  23:9. 


Vol.    VI 


BROOKLYN.  N.  Y.,  APRIL  15,  1921 


No.  28 


Published  Weekly,   Except  In 

the    Summer    Months 

ey  tha  Throop  Avt.  Presbyterian  Church 

Throop  Ave.  and   Macon  St. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

REV.  WM.  CARTER.  D.D.,  Pastor, 

Edited  by 

THE  MEN'S   BIBLE  CLASS 

JOHN  E.  BARTLETT,  Editor 

333   Madison  Street. 

J    MILTON    RENNER,    Associate   Editor 

Subscription,    Fifty   Cents  a  Year 
Entered  as  Second  Class  Matter  January 
30,    1921,    at    the    Postofflce    at    Brooklyn. 
N     Y  ,    under   the   Act    of   March   3,    1879. 


THE  ANNUAL  MEETING 

Were  you  out  last  Wednesday  night? 
If  not  you  missed  one  of  the  biggest 
ines-Tl^oop  Avenue  has  ever  done, 
inner 


evolences,  when  he  said  that  the  Ben- 
evolences had  increased  over  Qix  fold 
in  five  years  and  that  this  had  been  a 
constantly  increasing  growth  from 
year  to  year. 

The  following  is  the  synopsis  of  the 
Reports: 

To  Home  Missions $1,690.00 

To  Foreign  Missions  1,753.00 

To  Other  Benevolent  Boards. .   1,342.00 

To  Famine  Relief  Funds 1,705.00 

To  Inter-Church  Debt  Fund..  1,036.00 
To  Other  Outside  Benevo- 
lences       1,329.00 


Total    Benevolences    $8,855.00 

To  Congregational  Expenses.  .28,236.00 


Grand  total  $37,091.00 

Members  Received  on  Examination  66 
Members  Received  by  Letter   ....  22 


The  narrow  column  is  used  on  each  of  the  four  pages  of  this  weekly 
calendar  with  order  of  service  and  usual  church  notices  on  inside 
pages. 


and  a  half  in  capitals  and  small  letters,  every  such 
heading  should  be  so  written.  The  number  of  letters 
which  the  space  will  contain  should  be  counted,  and 
headings  written  to  fill  that  space.  Do  not  have  a 
two-hne  capitaUzed  heading  when  the  style  calls  for 


50  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

one  line.  Search  your  brain  for  synonyms  so  the  top 
line  will  contain  just  twenty- two  letters  and  spaces, 
not  twenty-five,  if  that  is  the  limit  of  the  column  you 
are  using.  Few  errors  of  editing  so  destroy  the  good 
appearance  of  papers  as  sloppy,  careless  headlines. 

Do  not  put  two  ''heads"  side  by  side  on  the  page. 
Rearrange  the  items  so  that  one  is  a  little  above  or 
below  the  other.  When  in  juxtaposition,  each  tends 
to  kill  the  effectiveness  of  the  other.  The  style  in 
most  papers  calls  for  a  complete  statement  in  each 
''deck"  of  the  head.  The  second  deck  should  be  an 
amplification,  not  a  continuation  of  the  wording  of 
the  first  deck.     Get  an  active  verb  in  each  head. 

Subheads  in  long  articles  tend  to  increase  interest 
and  open  up  the  page.  Much  solid  matter  tends  to 
make  a  dead,  uninviting  page.  It  may  be  enlivened 
by  cuts,  or  if  these  are  not  available,  by  the  use  of 
rule  boxes. 


Place  in  such  boxes,  not  more  than  one  to  a  page, 
pungent  extracts  from  the  article,  if  the  matter  justifies 
such  prominence,  or  some  important  fact  about  the 
church  or  Sunday-school  work  in  general  which  you  de- 
sire readers  to  be  sure  to  notice. 


Leave  plenty  of  white  space  about  the  matter  thus 
boxed.     An  announcement  of  coming  articles  or  im- 
portant events  may  thus  be  brought  out  prominently, 
and  the  appearance  of  the  page  improved. 
^   The  question  of  the  use  of  advertisements  of  local 


CALENDARS,  BULLETINS,  AND  PAPERS         51 

merchants  in  church  monthUes  and  weekly  calendars 
troubles  some  pastors.  Many  merchants  look  upon 
such  advertisements  as  a  contribution  to  the  church 
rather  than  a  legitimate  effort  to  get  business.  The 
constituency  of  some  church  papers  is  such  that  it  is 
moved  by  advertisements  in  the  church  publications. 
In  such  case  it  is  proper  for  the  church  to  solicit  ad- 
vertising. In  those  cases,  however,  where  the  mer- 
chant will  not  get  adequate  return  for  money  he 
expends,  the  church  should  refuse  to  accept  adver- 
tisements and  should  pay  the  expense  of  the  publica- 
tion from  its  own  funds. 

This  analysis  does  not  settle  the  matter,  nor  can  it 
be  settled  except  by  study  of  each  field  affected. 
Popular  magazines  have  standards  in  their  advertis- 
ing departments  so  that  a  man  cannot  spend  his 
money  there  if  the  management  thinks  his  proposal 
will  not  appeal  to  their  readers.  Thousands  of  dol- 
lars' worth  of  business  has  been  rejected  on  this  ground 
alone.  The  church  should  be  equally  scrupulous  in 
accepting  the  money  of  merchants. 


CHAPTER  V 
POSTERS  AND  CARDS 

WHEN  a  church  or  Sunday  school  places  a  dis- 
play advertisement  in  a  newspaper  the  pastor 
or  Publicity  Committee  need  worry  no  more  about 
the  message  getting  to  the  readers,  or  at  least  to  a 
considerable  number  of  them.  When  plans  are  made 
for  issuing  a  poster,  a  window  card,  or  a  circular,  some 
one  must  also  arrange  plans  to  get  this  printed  mat- 
ter where  it  may  be  seen  and  read.  The  physical 
presence  of  a  stack  of  one  thousand  posters  makes  so 
much  of  an  impression  upon  persons  untrained  in  ad- 
vertising that  they  instinctively  think  that  those 
posters  will  reach  more  individuals  than  an  advertise- 
ment in  the  newspaper,  only  one  or  two  copies  of 
which  they  see.  But  the  paper,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, is  distributed  to  the  homes  of  the  people  and 
the  advertisement  there  does  the  work.  The  posters 
must  be  put  where  they  can  be  seen  before  they  are 
effective. 

Posters  and  cards  will,  however,  be  considered  by 
any  religious  institution  engaging  in  a  comprehensive 
campaign  of  advertising.  In  some  localities  posters 
are  much  more  effective  than  advertising  space  in 
papers.  In  other  situations  posters  are  an  efficient 
reenforcement  of  the  news  items  and  spoken  an- 
nouncements of  the  same  event.     Each  supports  the 

52 


POSTERS  AND  CARDS  53 

other,  and  all  are  stronger  and  more  effective  because 
of  the  use  of  the  others. 

Posters,  for  the  purpose  of  readers  of  this  book, 
may  roughly  be  divided  into  those  which  are  made 
one  by  one  with  brush,  crayon,  scissors,  and  paste 
pot,  and  those  which  are  printed  from  type.  The 
colored  illustrated  posters  used  by  commercial  con- 
cerns, unfortunately,  seem  for  the  most  part  beyond 
the  resources  of  religious  institutions  except  general 
boards  or  other  denominational  agencies.  The  work 
of  artists  is  expensive,  and  a  poor  piece  of  art  work  is 
much  worse  than  none.  Most  of  the  street-car  cards 
and  the  one-sheet  posters  on  elevated  platforms  in 
cities,  which  contain  pictures,  are  the  work  of  artists 
who  may  receive  as  much  as  five  hundred  dollars  for 
a  single  poster.  They  are  made  in  large  quantity  for 
wide  use  and  such  expense  is  easily  justified.  Com- 
parable to  such  posters  are  those  issued  by  the  de- 
nominations, or  some  union  of  denominations,  like 
the  short-lived  Interchurch  World  Movement.  The 
Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A.,  has  issued  a  number 
of  attractive  posters  in  connection  with  the  annual 
Every-Member  Canvass.  Other  denominations  have 
used  the  work  of  artists  to  advantage  in  urging  mis- 
sions and  Christian  education. 

Handmade  posters  are  used  largely  in  a  more  mod- 
est fashion  by  many  local  religious  organizations, 
and  such  posters  are  the  chief  concern  of  this  chapter. 
The  making  of  posters  forms  an  excellent  outlet  for 
the  energies  of  high-school  boys  and  girls  or  Sunday- 
school  classes  or  other  groups.     The  prime  essential 


54  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

of  such  a  poster  is  an  attractive  picture,  preferably  in 
colors,  clipped  from  the  cover  or  body  of  a  magazine 


CanYou 
Express  Yourself 

Try  in  C.E. 

This  poster  was  made  as  i)art  of  the  class  work  at  one  of  the  summer 
conferences  of  young  people  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication 
and  Sabbath  S('hool  Work.  It  was  selected  by  vote  of  the  class  as 
the  most  effective  of  twenty  submitted. 

and  pasted  on  a  card  background.  To  this  is  added 
a  few  words  of  text,  the  composition  of  which  de- 
pends upon  the  object  sought. 


POSTERS  AND  CARDS  55 

The  genius  of  such  a  poster  is  in  the  apt  combina- 
tion of  whatever  picture  may  be  available  with  text 
which  will  hold  interest.  Such  posters  find  a  very 
acceptable  use  in  churches  and  in  young  people's 
societies  or  missionary  society  rooms.  A  series  of 
such  posters  used  to  drive  home  some  subject  like 
stewardship,  mission  study,  or  a  definite  part  of  the 
local  church  work,  changed  each  week,  will  do  a  deal 
of  good  in  the  course  of  a  year,  and  accomplish  a  re- 
sult which  cannot  be  brought  about  through  use  of 
mere  words  by  the' pastor  in  the  pulpit  or  the  super- 
intendent from  the  platform.  The  pictures  attract 
and  drive  home  the  lesson.  Christian  Endeavorers 
all  over  the  country  have  used  this  method  with  suc- 
cess in  advertising  weekly  meetings,  social  events, 
and  similar  special  occasions. 

Text  on  Poster  Important 
The  picture  goes  far  toward  attracting  attention, 
which  is  the  first  of  the  fundamental  requirements  of 
good  advertising.  But  the  text  must  hold  the  interest, 
or  the  attention  value  of  the  colored  picture  is  wasted. 
A  large  picture  of  the  familiar  old  lady  who  accom- 
panies Dutch  Cleanser  might  be  used  on  such  a  poster 
with  this  text  along  the  side,  as  spoken  by  her,  ^^Now, 
I  want  all  you  young  people  to  go."  Under  the 
picture  place,  date,  and  events  should  be  clearly 
stated. 

One  very  effective  poster,  made  by  a  member  of 
the  Publicity  Committee  of  a  Detroit  church,  showed 
three  children  seated  at  a  bench.     One  Httle  girl  was 


56  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

opening  her  lunch  box  and  the  others  were  leaning 
over  eagerly  to  look  into  it.  Underneath  was  the 
text:  ''God  will  not  judge  you  by  what  you  give,  but 
by  what  you  withhold."  This  was  part  of  a  cam- 
paign to  make  people  in  the  church  think  more  about 
stewardship. 

The  lettering  should  be  done  as  legibly  as  possible, 
large  enough  to  be  read  twenty  feet  away,  and  most 
of  it  in  small  letters  (lower  case).  The  text  should 
be  thought  over  a  good  while,  the  spacing  of  it  care- 
fully considered,  and  the  drawing  done  hghtly  in 
pencil  before  being  made  with  ink  or  crayon.  Re- 
member that  black  on  white  shows  the  greatest  con- 
trast. Dark  brown  on  Hght  brown  looks  very  well 
and  can  be  seen  at  short  range,  but  other  colors 
attract  more  attention.  The  poster  must  not  sacri- 
fice its  attention  value  in  order  to  be  ''artistic";  nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  should  unsuitable  color  combina- 
tions be  permitted. 

Naturally,  posters  of  this  sort  will  exhibit  a  vast 
amount  of  individuahty.  Here  lies  one  of  their 
great  charms.  They  should  not,  however,  be  ex- 
hibited more  than  two  Sundays  in  succession,  as 
they  soon  lose  their  attention  value.  When  the  mat- 
ter is  not  of  local  import,  or  if  it  can  be  easily  changed, 
such  posters  may  be  passed  from  one  church  to  an- 
other and  used  several  times. 

If  the  Publicity  Committee  has  at  hand  a  list  of 
the  high-school  boys  or  girls  who  have  some  talent  in 
drawing,  basis  will  be  formed  for  a  subcommittee  in 
charge  of  posters.     Some  children  can't  keep  their 


POSTERS  AND  CARDS 57 

pencils  from  drawing  funny  figures,  to  the  amusement 
of  their  fellow  pupils  and  the  despair  of  their  teachers. 
Here  is  an  excellent  avenue  of  employment  for  these 
busy  folk  in  promoting  the  work  of  the  church  and 
Sunday  school. 

Keep  Bulletin  Boards  at  Work 
The  widespread  use  of  movable-letter  signs  has 
done  much  to  solve  the  question  of  ''What  sort  of 
signboard?"  The  problem,  then,  is  one  of  copy: 
''What  shall  we  say?"  Too  many  pastors  answer 
this  in  the  easiest  way  by  displaying  only  the  times 
of  meetings  with  the  topic  of  their  sermon.  Other 
managers  of  church  publicity  use  the  bulletin  board 
as  a  lawn  preacher  and  have  displayed  from  Sunday 
night  to  Friday  morning  a  sentence  designed  to  make 
passers-by  think  on  helpful  subjects.  On  Friday  the 
Sunday  topic  is  displayed. 

Some  churches  feel  that  these  bulletin  boards  do 
not  reach  the  majority  of  passers-by  because  the  let- 
ters are  too  small.  They  have  arranged  other  types 
of  board,  the  best  of  which,  perhaps,  is  a  shallow 
frame  covered  with  a  glass  door  behind  which  is  dis- 
played a  sheet  of  wrapping  paper  transformed  into  a 
church  poster.  Usually  this  is  merely  a  sentence 
sermon  in  letters  six  or  eight  inches  high.  A  church 
in  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  uses  this  idea  successfully, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  sign-card  writer  of  a  local 
department  store  who  letters  the  copy  given  him 
by  the  chairman  of  the  PubUcity  Committee  of  the 
church. 


58  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Any  sign  is  better  than  none,  but  hundreds  of 
churches  occupying  high-priced  land  at  busy  inter- 
sections offer  the  passers-by  no  word  of  help  or  sug- 
gestion of  better  things  except  ^Treadling  on  Sunday 
at  10.00  A.  m/'  Perhaps  your  church  is  missing  some 
such  opportunity  of  preaching  to  throngs  all  day  and 
night. 

The  arrangement  of  matter  follows  rules  similar  to 
those  for  the  best  appearance  of  printed  matter  in  a 
display  advertisement.  The  prime  consideration  is 
that  it  must  be  easy  to  read.  All  fine  lines  and 
flourishes  are  to  be  subordinated  to  the  aim  of  getting 
the  message  into  the  mind  of  the  reader,  who  may  be 
passing  rapidly  in  an  automobile. 

The  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A.,  through  its 
Department  of  Publicity,  has  filled  a  need  among 
ministers  for  appropriate  short  statements  to  put  on 
bulletin  boards  by  issuing  three  series  of  sermonettes 
for  outdoor  bulletin  boards.  These  are  designed  to 
give  the  passer-by  something  to  think  about  which 
will  tend  to  draw  him  nearer  to  the  things  for  which 
the  church  stands. 

Printed  posters  for  store  windows,  and  cards  for 
the  advertisement  of  special  meetings,  follow  in  their 
make-up  and  composition  the  same  laws  as  display 
advertisements.  For  full  discussion  of  printed  pos- 
ters, see  Chapters  XI  and  XII. 


CHAPTER  VI 
WRITING  LETTERS 

1ETTERS  form  an  important  link  in  any  care- 
-^fully  planned  publicity  campaign  for  a  religious 
organization.  In  fact,  many  large  results  have  been 
accomplished  through  the  use  of  letters  alone.  They 
are  especially  valuable  in  communities  so  large  that 
an  effort  to  reach  non-members  through  the  news- 
papers means  much  wasted  circulation.  Letters  also 
have  a  high  place  in  intrachurch  publicity. 

But  letters,  like  all  publicity,  to  be  effective  must 
be  well  written.  ''Get  into  the  envelope  and  seal 
the  flap  after  you,''  advises  a  writer  on  the  composi- 
tion of  business  communications  who  has  had  large 
success  in  making  his  circular  letters  human.  The 
human  touch  is  especially  needed  when  attempt  is 
being  made  to  interest  possible  members  of  a  church, 
a  Sunday-school  class,  or  a  men's  club. 

A  letter  is  a  personal  representative.  In  appear- 
ance and  content  it  should  ably  reflect  the  sender  at 
his  best.  Hence,  letters  should  be  written  at  the 
beginning  of  the  day,  or  when  the  writer  is  mentally 
and  physically  at  ease.  Perhaps  of  the  two,  mental 
ease  is  the  more  necessary.  Everyone  has  heard 
the  warning,  ''Do  not  answer  a  letter  while  you 
are  angry." 

Letters  designed   to  persuade  a  man  to  join  a 

59 


60  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

religious  organization,  like  all  other  letters,  must  be 
written  from  the  standpoint  of  the  recipient,  not  that 
of  the  writer.  This  principle  cannot  be  stressed  too 
strongly.  It  should  be  recalled  before  every  let- 
ter is  written.  Change  the  "I"  to  ''you'^  and  note 
the  improvement.  Analyze  the  letters  you  receive. 
Those  which  talk  about  you  and  recognize  the  diffi- 
culties of  your  position  are  more  favorably  noticed 
than  those  which  speak  of  what  the  writer  has  done 
or  will  do.  "I  have  been  asked  by  my  colleagues," 
began  a  letter  to  Presbyterian  ministers  by  an  officer 
of  the  denomination.  This  was  changed  to  open 
with,  ^'You  already  have  received,"  thus  Unking  the 
second  letter  with  a  prehminary  piece  of  printed 
matter  and  putting  the  reader  in  a  more  favorable 
frame  of  mind. 

The  law  of  compensation  operates  in  writing  letters 
— that  is,  results  from  letters  are  in  proportion  to  the 
effort  and  heart  put  into  them.  Good  letters  are 
not  written  without  careful  thought,  although  those 
who  in  their  everyday  work  are  constantly  seeking 
new  ways  of  doing  things  can  more  easily  write  an 
attention-compelling  epistle  than  can  the  man  who 
in  all  his  dealings  with  his  fellows  is  content  to  follow 
the  crowd  in  a  rut. 

Most  letters  are  advertisements  addressed  to  a 
specified  individual.  As  such  they  follow  the  laws  of 
advertising,  of  which  the  first  is  ''Find  the  point  of 
contact."  Get  the  attention  of  the  reader  by  the 
easiest  means.  Don't  raise  debatable  subjects  in  the 
first  paragraph.     Get  the  reader  to  agree  with  you,  to 


WRITING  LETTERS  61 

feel  at  peace  with  the  world,  especially  with  you,  and 
then  get  the  barb  of  your  idea  into  his  mind. 

Use  of  Questions  Is  Often  Effective 
A  question  is  often  the  best  way  of  getting  atten- 
tion. *'What  did  you  think  of  that  suggestion  in  last 
Sunday's  sermon  that/'  etcetera,  might  be  a  good 
way  of  getting  the  attention  of  a  possible  member  of 
your  church.  You  don't  ask  him  if  he  was  at  church 
the  previous  Sunday.  Assume  that  fact,  and  the 
suggestion  of  what  was  then  said,  if  of  general  interest 
to  men  of  the  type  addressed,  may  pull  him  to  a  pew 
the  following  week.  The  sting  of  a  pointed  question 
often  arouses  the  conscience.  Witness  the  wide  use 
of  "When  did  you  write  to  mother  last?"  in  rescue 
missions.  ''How  do  you  expect  your  son  to  stay  in 
Sunday  school  when  his  father  plays  golf  all  day 
Sunday?"  may  put  a  new  thought  into  the  minds  of 
careless  parents. 

Commercial  concerns  rarely  issue  a  circular  letter 
without  a  definite  purpose.  Usually  they  hope  for  a 
reply  to  a  definite  proposal.  Let  church  people  take 
a  lesson  here  and  seek  to  press  home  the  point  in  view. 
Try  to  get  a  response  of  some  sort.  Inclose  a  reply 
card  for  a  copy  of  the  church  calendar,  angle  for  a 
statement  of  the  former  place  of  residence  or  church 
connection  in  other  towns;  anything  to  get  the  man 
to  answer.  The  act  of  mailing  a  reply  fixes  more 
strongly  in  his  mind  the  letter  you  send.  Frame 
your  letters  with  this  in  view  and  never  permit  in  the 
letter  any  suggestion  of  the  wastebasket  or  his  pos- 


62  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

sible  failure  to  answer.  Believe  success  and  it  comes. 
Let  the  letter  radiate  faith  in  its  own  success. 

The  composition  of  letters,  like  the  composition  of 
any  sales  Uterature,  requires  time  and  thought  if  best 
results  are  to  be  achieved.  The  introduction  must 
be  friendly  and  must  establish  a  point  of  contact  if 
the  ''prospect"  is  to  read  the  whole  letter.  The 
paragraphs  must  not  be  long.  The  eye  naturally 
jumps  from  one  break  in  the  page  to  the  next  if  the 
interest  lags  a  moment  in  a  long  paragraph.  Short 
paragraphs  usually  tend  to  shorter  and,  therefore, 
clearer  sentences.  Read  over  the  last  two  form  let- 
ters you  sent  possible  members  of  the  church  or 
adult  Bible  class  and  see  if  you  now  can  find  spots 
where  they  might  have  been  changed  for  the  better. 

The  letter  which  begins  with  the  brief  recounting 
of  an  incident  frequently  puts  the  writer  on  the 
proper  friendly  basis  with  the  recipient.  This  sugges- 
tion of  narration  does  not  mean  a  long  story. 
Merely  a  thought  or  a  picture,  something  which  vis- 
uahzes  a  scene  to  the  reader,  makes  it  easier  for  him 
to  get  your  message. 

The  newsboy  on  the  corner  nearest  our  church 
came  to  the  manse  last  night  and  laid  three  dimes 
in  my  hand.  ''I  want  to  give  this  for  the  Thanks- 
giving fund";  he  said, and  was  gone  before  I  could 
invite  him  in. 

Suppose  that  were  the  opening  of  a  letter  asking 
for  money  for  the  annual  Thanksgiving  baskets? 
Wouldn't  you  be  inclined  to  read  further? 

If  the  message  of  a  letter  is  interpreted  in  terms  of 


WRITING  LETTERS  63 

life  it  will  be  more  carefully  read.  Incidentally,  the 
same  principle  carried  into  sermons  or  talks  from  the 
Sunday-school  platform  meets  with  large  success. 

The  flank  attack  is  successful  in  realms  other  than 
that  of  modern  warfare.  It  works  in  the  province  of 
the  mind.  To  assume  that  the  man  had  been  at 
church  and  to  ask  his  comment  upon  a  phase  of  the 
sermon  of  the  previous  Sunday  makes  him  say  to 
himself,  perhaps  unconsciously,  ^'I  suppose  I  ought 
to"  go."  A  certain  educational  institution  issued  a 
booklet  about  expansion  plans  which  it  was  desirous 
should  be  read  by  a  Ust  of  men  and  women  supposed 
to  be  favorable  to  such  institutions.  To  send  a 
leaflet  to  a  business  man  and  say:  "Please,  sir,  read 
this.  It  tells  why  we  are  going  to  ask  you  for  money 
later  on,"  would  have  defeated  the  purpose.  After 
careful  study  the  plan  was  adopted  of  sending  the 
booklet  with  a  letter  which  asked  the  advice  of  the 
recipient  as  to  certain  features  of  the  proposed  expan- 
sion program,  thus  assuming  that  he  would  read  it 
and  flattering  him  because  his  opinion  was  asked.  It 
evoked  a  reply  from  a  considerable  number  and 
favorable  consideration  from  still  more. 

Suggestion  is  always  more  potent  than  command 
or  request.  Witness  the  best  methods  of  training 
your  children.  Mental  processes  are  much  alike  in 
children  and  adults.  Suggest  that  everyone  in  town 
is  going  to  the  benefit  concert  for  the  local  hospital, 
and  everyone  will  wish  to  go.  Beg  people  to  come 
to  the  prayer  meeting  Wednesday  night  and  those 
will  respond  whose  sense  of  loyalty  overbalances  their 


64     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

inclination  to  stay  by  the  fireside.  Plant  the  desire 
to  go  in  the  heart  of  a  man,  and  he  will  go,  rain  or 
snow  notwithstanding.  Suggestion  is  the  means  of 
creating  the  desire. 

How  this  can  be  done  may  be  answered  only  by  a 
study  of  each  circumstance.  The  flank  attack  is  a 
mechanical  means  of  arriving  at  the  result.  Ask 
yourself,  '^In  order  to  get  the  man  to  come,  how  can  I 
arouse  his  interest  in  some  allied  feature  of  the  eve- 
ning's entertainment  so  as  to  move  him  to  action?'' 
This  action  can  be  brought  about  often  by  an  opti- 
mistic temperament  which  assumes  that  the  crowd 
will  be  there  and  which  radiates  that  confidence  to 
others.  The  pessimist  worries  about  the  size  of  the 
crowd  and  it  usually  measures  up  to  his  expectations. 
Make  the  sermon  worth  hearing,  the  meeting  worth 
the  attendance  of  busy  men;  assume  that  they  will 
come  and  write  them  in  that  spirit.  Results  ought 
to  follow. 

Letterheads 

What  minister  of  the  gospel  would  think  of  going 
on  his  pastoral  calls  with  a  photographic  miniature 
of  his  face  made  into  a  pin  and  fastened  to  the  lapel 
of  his  coat?  Why  then  should  clergymen  use  a  half 
tone  of  themselves  on  their  letterheads?  The  letter, 
as  well  as  the  visit,  projects  the  individual  into  the 
attention  of  another.  Shall  his  picture  accompany 
the  epistle? 

The  letterheads  of  the  largest  and  most  substantial 
concerns  of  the  country  are  simple  in  design.     There 


WRITING  LETTERS 65 

is  not  much  type,  and  what  is  used  is  small  and  not 
ornate.  The  elaborate  letterhead,  along  with  the  flow- 
ing beard  and  the  hoop  skirt,  has  passed,  probably 
never  to  return.  The  presence  of  much  printed 
matter  on  a  letter  tends  to  detract  from  the  written 
message  itself.  As  in  architecture,  tailoring,  or 
house-furnishing,  so  in  letters  simplicity  makes  the 
most  pleasing  impression. 

The  quality  of  stationery  to  be  used  must  not  be 
decided  hastily.  A  dollar  more  put  into  a  thousand 
letterheads  may  be  one  of  the  best  advertising  invest- 
ments the  chm-ch  can  make  for  the  pastor.  It  is  not 
wise  to  spend  money  lavishly  on  letterheads  and 
envelopes,  but  good  quality  pays. 

The  same  comment  applies  to  printing.  Printing 
is  an  art.  One  of  the  mistakes  which  churches  fre- 
quently commit  is  to  give  printing  to  the  lowest 
bidder.  When  artistry  enters  as  a  large  factor  in 
manufacture,  lowest  possible  prices  cannot  be  paid 
and  best  results  obtained.  If  the  pastor  or  some 
member  of  the  church  or  Sunday  school  can  supply 
the  brains  which  higher  priced  printers  usually  use 
with  their  work,  then  printing  at  the  bare  cost  of 
labor  and  stock  can  be  done  with  assurance  of  good 
results. 

Churches  ought  to  provide  their  pastors  with 
plenty  of  well-printed  stationery  and  cards.  Such 
equipment  is  part  of  the  office  expense,  not  personal, 
and  payment  should  come  from  the  church  treasury. 

The  laws  of  balance  must  be  nicely  observed  in  the 
placing  of  letters  on  the  typewritten  page.    If  the 
5 


66  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

letter  consists  of  about  sixty  words  on  the  usual  letter 
paper,  the  effect  will  be  much  more  pleasant  to  the 
eye  of  the  recipient  if  there  are  nine  lines  on  the  page 
than  if  the  material  be  written  in  five  long  lines  across 
the  middle  of  the  sheet  or  near  the  top.  Stenog- 
raphers are  trained  in  the  adjustment  of  their  ma- 
chines and  as  to  the  proper  place  to  start  a  letter. 
They  estimate  from  their  notes  the  length  of  the 
material.  Ministers  and  other  religious  workers 
frequently  must  write  their  own  letters.  A  little  care 
of  the  same  sort  will  be  repaid. 

Some  one  has  said  that  the  'T.  S."  is  like  the  sting 
in  the  hornet's  tail.  Everyone  reads  the  postscript; 
sometimes  it  is  read  first,  after  the  signature  has 
received  a  glance.  Put  a  sharp  barb  in  the  post- 
script, but  it  must  be  short. 

Shall  we  spend  one  or  two  cents  in  sending  a  letter? 
The  answer  may  mean  the  difference  of  twenty  dollars 
in  the  cost  of  a  small  part  of  a  sales  campaign.  To 
use  less  than  first-class  postage  may  be  criminal  waste 
of  the  Lord's  money.  Many  men  and  women  will 
not  look  at  a  one-cent  letter.  The  mere  act  of 
breaking  the  seal  of  a  letter  under  a  two-cent  stamp 
forces  the  recipient  to  do  something  which  incUnes 
him  to  a  quasi-favorable  reading  of  your  message. 

If  the  envelope  can  be  marked  so  that  the  recipient 
knows  the  nature  of  the  contents,  especially  if  he 
desires  the  contents,  a  one-cent  stamp  is  justified. 
In  towns  where  people  get  little  mail  a  one-cent  letter 
is  given  more  attention  than  among  people  whose 
mail  each  morning  contains  ten  or  twenty  letters  of 


WRITING  LETTERS 67 

various  sorts.  The  question  of  stamps  is  important 
and  to  err  on  the  side  of  doing  the  best  is  wiser  than 
on  the  side  of  the  cheapest  in  sending  church  matter 
to  prospects.  This  suggestion  is  borne  out  by  com- 
mercial experience. 


CHAPTER  VII 
USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS 

"1^  fHY  not  put  the  news  of  the  church  where  the 
^  ^  people  will  read  it?  Christ  did  not  require 
people  to  come  within  four  walls  to  hear  him.  Why 
should  not  a  church  of  to-day  use  modern  means  to 
get  its  message  to  the  people  who  never  come  to  its 
stated  services?  The  founder  of  the  Woolworth 
stores  is  said  to  have  laid  down  this  principle  for  the 
location  of  his  places  of  business:  ^'I  want  to  set 
my  trap  where  the  mice  are  plenty. '  ^  The  newspapers 
of  the  country — the  papers  in  your  town  and  mine — 
reach  nearly  everyone.  Consequently  all  the  favor- 
able items  concerning  Christianity  which  can  be 
inserted  there,  are  so  much  of  an  effort  toward 
Christianizing  the  world. 

When  a  religious  organization  embodies  in  a  four- 
page  tract  an  idea  which  it  hopes  to  get  into  the 
minds  of  many  people,  some  way  must  be  found  to 
circulate  the  leaflet,  and  the  cost  of  distributing 
material  is  high.  Through  the  columns  of  the  news- 
papers of  the  land  churches  have  a  medium,  the 
circulation  of  which  is  already  provided.  In  order 
to  circulate  the  " tract ^*  without  cost,  rewrite  the 
idea  in  terms  which  the  people  will  read.  Then  the 
editor  may  print  it.     But  he  must  not  be  blamed 

68 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS 


for  hesitating  to  print  material  which  he  thinks  peo- 
ple will  refuse  to  read.  His  paper  is  a  commodity 
which  sells  because  it  contains  matter  which  the 
buyers  wish  to  read.  If  he  prints  articles  which  a 
considerable  number  do  not  desire,  he  will  soon  find 
his  circulation  declining.  The  pubUc  will  read 
another  paper. 

Editors  Are  Human — Help  Them 
About  this  time  some  one  will  rise  to  remark  that 
the  papers  in  his  town  are  yellow,  untruthful,  and 
generally  venal.  If  that  is  the  case — and  usually 
such  a  picture  is  vastly  overdrawn — what  has  the 
brother  done  to  improve  the  papers?  Reporters 
make  mistakes.  A  few  are  inaccurate.  Most  of 
them  know  little  about  church  affairs.  They  are  apt 
to  confuse  the  names  of  church  offices  and  make 
blunders  which  to  the  ecclesiastical  lawyer  seem 
important.  If  editors,  or  reporters,  are  approached 
with  the  assumption  that  they  wish  to  be  helpful,  and 
facts  are  given  fully  and  without  irritation,  the  care 
will  usually  be  found  to  be  worth  while. 

In  an  experience  of  nearly  twenty  years  in  daily 
and  weekly  journalism,  the  writer  has  been  thrown 
with  no  class  of  persons  more  careless  of  the  desires  of 
editors  and  more  ungenerous  in  their  criticisms  of 
blunders  than  ministers.  Editors  of  church  pages 
all  over  the  country  report  that  pastors  seldom  send 
in  announcements  of  their  Sunday  sermons  uni- 
formly on  time  and  in  the  shape  used  by  the  paper. 
Some  one  must  rewrite  a  great  quantity  of  dreary 


70  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

facts  which  could  just  as  well  have  been  wi'itten 
correctly  by  the  pastors  in  the  first  place. 

Every  pastor  and  Sunday-school  superintendent 
ought  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  the  editors  in  their 
town.  Church  and  press  are  both  engaged  in  the 
upUft  of  the  community.  That  each  fails  so  often 
to  understand  the  other  is  to  be  regretted,  for 
thereby  many  opportunities  for  mutual  helpfulness 
are  lost. 

Show  the  editor  that  you  are  a  real  friend  by  tip- 
ping him  off  to  news  which  is  not  directly  related  to 
your  church.  Help  him  with  the  details  of  the  obitu- 
ary of  some  prominent  man  you  have  long  known. 
Offer  to  report  a  lecture  or  other  meeting,  if  you  in- 
tend to  go  and  he  is  short  of  reporters.  Give  him 
items  about  weddings  you  perform.  Commend  him 
for  supporting  the  right.  In  smaller  cities  facts 
about  visitors,  learned  by  a  pastor  through  his  pas- 
toral calUng,  may  go  far  toward  warming  the  editor's 
heart  toward  a  church. 

When  the  paper  does  not  print  church  news,  don't 
blame  the  editor.  Look  to  yourself,  and  see  how  the 
matter  can  be  rewritten,  or  additional  or  other  facts 
dug  up  which  the  editor  will  accept  as  worthy  of 
pubhcation. 

Some  papers  print  sermons  in  full.  Probably  they 
are  read  by  some  persons  other  than  the  proof  reader 
and  the  compositor,  but  from  a  news  standpoint  many 
Christian  journaHsts  question  their  value.  Most  per- 
sons will  more  readily  peruse  a  half-column  sunmiary 
of  a  sermon  with  the  most  interesting  points  brought 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS 71 

out  than  wade  through  a  two-column  discourse. 
Unless  people  will  read  it,  there  is  Uttle  merit  in 
printing  it. 

Sermon  extracts  should  closely  follow  the  rules  of 
good  news-writing.  The  Bible  text  is  unimportant 
to  the  newspaper  reader,  however  necessary  it  is 
to  the  pastor.  Put  in  the  first  paragraph  that  state- 
ment, irrespective  of  the  place  it  occupied  in  the  dis- 
course, which  ties  the  sermon  with  current  popular 
thought.  There  must  be  a  point  of  contact  before 
the  reader  will  spend  his  time  upon  it.     Find  that. 

Do  not  grow  weary  in  well-doing  when  you  start 
sending  church  or  Sunday-school  news  to  a  paper.  If 
the  editor  at  your  suggestion  sets  apart  a  half  column 
or  a  half  page,  as  hundreds  of  papers  do,  and  expects 
the  space  to  be  filled  by  you  or  your  fellow  workers 
every  week,  don't  forget  that  every  week  means  every 
seven  days.  Have  the  copy  in  good  shape  on  the 
editorial  desk  on  or  before  the  time  set.  The  danger 
to  be  watched  in  filling  a  regular  space  is  that  the 
matter  tends  to  become  routine  work.  From  a 
propaganda  standpoint  the  regular  department  is 
much  to  be  desired,  but  some  one  must  work  hard  to 
furnish  only  the  best  of  material. 

If  there  is  no  regular  department,  and  the  church 
or  Sunday  school  gives  the  editor  news  only  as  facts 
warrant,  the  task  of  the  church  reporter  is  to  prepare 
a  flow  of  facts  for  the  editor.  Too  often  church  folk 
feel  piqued  when  they  stay  up  an  hour  at  night  to 
write  a  report  of  a  farewell  social  for  their  foreign 
missionary,  and  then  find  the  next  morning  that  the 


72     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

six-page  article  has  been  boiled  to  four  lines.  Space 
was  "tight"  that  night,  but  the  next  night  there  may 
be  plenty  of  room.  No  one  can  tell  what  the  next 
minute  will  bring  forth  in  a  newspaper  office,  and 
news  values  must  continually  be  readjusted  in  view 
of  the  latest  developments.  The  thing  to  do  is  to 
keep  the  paper  suppUed  with  facts  all  the  time  so 
that  when  slack  times  come  church  news  will  have  a 
chance.  Some  years  ago  the  St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press 
had  an  energetic  correspondent  in  Fargo,  North 
Dakota.  Every  night  he  had  a  well-filled  envelope 
on  the  desk  of  the  Northwest  editor.  When  other 
news  was  light,  the  Fargo  man  was  rewarded  by 
having  most  of  his  tales  printed,  although  when  real 
news  developed  in  other  parts  of  the  Northwest,  the 
thinner  tales  from  North  Dakota  were  dumped  into 
the  wastebasket.  The  diligence  of  the  man  earned 
for  him  regularly  the  largest  pay  check  of  any  of  the 
hundred  or  more  correspondents.  So  it  will  be  with 
church  news.  Keep  the  papers  suppfied  against  the 
day  and  hour  when  the  demand  for  copy  sweeps  the 
church  news  into  type  and  into  the  forms  for  publica- 
tion. 

Reach  Larger  Audiences 
Persistence  has  unexpected  rewards.  One  of  the 
larger  denominations  maintains  a  news  bureau  which 
furnishes  facts  to  papers  of  the  country.  Accounts 
of  the  coming  of  speakers  of  the  various  boards  are 
sent  ahead  of  the  lecturers,  much  to  the  enlargement 
of  the  audiences  that  greet  the  men.     One  day  a 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS 73 

report  came,  too  late  to  be  mailed,  that  a  certain  man 
was  to  lecture  the  next  day  in  Jackson,  Michigan. 
The  News  there  was  wired  that  such  a  man  would 
arrive  at  such  a  time.  The  editor  assigned  a  reporter 
to  meet  the  train.  The  paper  printed  a  column-and- 
a-half  story  the  afternoon  before  the  lecture,  and 
next  day  carried  two  columns  about  the  meeting 
itself.  Thus  the  facts  that  the  board  was  trying  to 
get  across  received  a  tremendously  increased  hearing 
because  of  the  care  in  sending  its  itinerary  to  the 
news  bureau. 

The  Presbyterian  denomination  equipped  its  lec- 
turers on  one  campaign  with  stories  to  be  sent  to 
weekly  papers  in  the  smaller  towns  they  expected  to 
visit.  The  men  were  given  the  following,  with  a 
stamped  envelope  and  instructions  to  mail  it  to  only 
one  paper  in  the  town  in  which  they  were  planning  to 
speak : 

Advance  news  items:  "The  New  Era  and  the  New 
Needs."     Item  for  paper  to  be  sent  in  advance. 

Instruction  to  lecturer :  Fill  in  blanks  below.  Print  all 
proper  names  and  mail  to  one  paper  only — one  with  largest 
circulation  in  towns  you  will  visit.  Weekly  papers  usually 
close  for  news  on  Wednesday  morning.  Get  your  item 
there  Monday  morning.  New  Era  Movement. 

tear  off  top  here  and  mail  early 


To  the  Editor: 

You  may  care  for  this  news  item.  It  will  interest  every 
Presbyterian  in  your  territory.  The  lecture  is  free.  This 
item  is  exclusive.  Would  be  glad  to  have  you  or  a  repre- 
sentative attend  the  lecture. 


74     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Pictures  of  Presb>i:erian  work  around  the  world  will  be 

shown  in  the  local  Presb\i;erian  church  next 

evening,  Feb at 

o'clock.     The  pastor  is  Rev 

The  address  will  be  given  by  Rev of 

The  local  church  is 

one  of  10,000  congregations  in  this  country  and  abroad. 
In  addition  to  the  1400  foreign  missionaries  and  1250 
home  missionaries,  the  denomination  supports  77  hospitals 
in  9  foreign  countries  and  has  2000  schools  and  colleges  in 
16  foreign  countries.  It  was  a  Presb\i:erian  missionary 
who  invented  a  plow  which  natives  in  India  can  use  to  turn 
a  better  furrow.  A  picture  of  this  plow  in  action  will  be 
shown.  Another  missionary  of  the  same  denomination 
has  helped  break  up  the  effects  of  the  India  caste  system 
by  importing  and  crossbreeding  chickens.  In  one  year 
the  size  of  eggs  was  doubled  in  one  district. 

After  the  lecture  the  following  was  to  be  furnished 
the  editor : 

FoUow  up  news  item:  "The  New  Era  and  the  New 
Needs" 

Lecturer:  Take  this  to  the  newspaper  office  the  morning 
after  3'our  lecture,  no  matter  whether  weekly  or  daily. 
Offer  it  to  the  city  editor  as  news  he  may  care  for.  You 
are  cooperating  with  him  in  furthering  the  best  things  in 
town.     Ask  no  favors.  New  Era  Movement. 

detach  top  here  and  throw  it  away 

A  Chinese  evangelist  who  keeps  a  record  of  over  2000 
persons  for  whom  he  daily  prays  was  introduced  to  the 

audience  in  the  Presbyterian  church  last 

evening  by of who 

gave  an  illustrated  lecture  on  'The  New  Era  and  the  New 
Needs."  The  slides  gave  a  graphic  view  of  Presbyterian- 
ism  around  the  world,  picturing  mission  work  from  Alaska 
to  North  Carolina  and  from  New  York  to  India. 

The  evangelist,  Ding  Li  Mei,  has  had  what  are  termed 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS 75 

remarkable  results  in  China.  He  is  one  of  the  powers  for 
good  among  the  younger  men  of  that  country. 

The  educational  and  medical  work  of  the  Presbyterians 
was  shown,  as  well  as  evidences  of  the  evangelistic  work 
whereby  last  year  173,000  new  members  were  added  to  the 
rolls.  The  local  church  joins  with  10,000  other  congrega- 
tions in  maintaining  77  hospitals  in  foreign  lands,  many  of 
them  the  only  places  of  healing  available  to  hundreds  of 
thousands.  According  to  those  who  are  informed,  hospitals 
are  unknown  where  medical  missionaries  have  not  been 
sent  by  men  and  women  from  Christian  countries  who 
loved  their  neighbors  well  enough  to  provide  money  to 
support  the  work. 

Last  year  Presbyterians  raised  for  all  purposes  $10,000,- 
000  more  than  they  ever  did  before,  but  gave  an  average 
each  week  of  only  an  ice  cream  soda  without  the  war  tax 
to  all  the  mission  work  of  their  church.  But  the  average 
is  rising.  An  increase  of  twenty  per  cent  is  expected  this 
year  as  a  result  of  the  Every  Member  Canvass,  Sunday, 
March  6. 

In  order  that  this  might  not  have  the  appearance 
of  being  too  much  of  a  ^ ^canned"  story,  the  lecturers 
were  instructed  also  to  copy  the  entire  matter  before 
sending.  If  the  local  pastor  also  told  the  editor  of 
the  coming  lecture,  no  harm  was  done.  The  editor 
got  the  news  from  two  sources,  with  the  chance  that 
it  thus  made  more  of  an  impression  upon  him. 

The  sort  of  news  that  papers  will  use  depends  upon 
the  size  of  the  town  and  the  appetite  of  the  readers 
for  religious  matters.  The  Boston  Transcript  uses 
full  pages  of  religious  matter  every  Saturday,  not 
stereotyped  notices.  The  Chicago  Tribune  employs 
a  religious  editor,  but  the  Sunday  paper  often  has 
only  eight  or  ten  inches  of  items.  Thus  in  other 
cities  the  amount  of  space  deemed  worth  devoting  to 


76     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

religious  purposes  varies.  The  strange  thing  is  that 
church  people  so  seldom  make  efforts  to  have  the 
space  enlarged  by  asking  for  it,  or  commending  the 
managing  editor  for  his  good  judgment  in  giving  space 
to  an  important  story. 

If  the  element  of  interest  is  kept  in  mind,  the  ques- 
tion of  news  will  solve  itself  after  the  local  church 
reporter  has  had  experience.  He  must  continually 
search  the  activities  of  the  church  or  school  with 
these  questions  in  mind:  ^'What  has  happened  which 
would  interest  people  outside  this  church?  How 
can  events  in  the  school  or  church  be  made  to  interest 
a  large  number?"  Often  news  about  the  denomina- 
tion, or  other  general  religious  items  can  be  made 
available  by  giving  them  a  local  angle.  Sometimes 
the  taking  of  a  special  offering  in  Sunday  school  for  a 
popular  famine  appeal,  or  something  similar,  may 
be  counted  news  because  it  links  a  local  institution  to 
a   national   effort   concerning   which   all   the   town 

knows. 

How  TO  Get  Attention 

The  essence  of  good  news- writing  is  to  write  so  that 
the  matter  may  be  easily  read.  If  church  and  Sunday- 
school  news  intended  for  publication  in  daily  papers 
be  offered  in  form  which  can  be  easily  digested, 
following  the  style  which  the  paper  usually  adopts, 
it  will  have  a  better  chance  of  getting  into  the  paper 
than  if  the  editor  must  turn  the  article  over  to  a 
reporter  for  rewriting. 

Glance  at  the  headlines  of  this  morning's  paper. 
Some  items  hold  your  attention  while  others  do  not. 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS  77 

A  few  you  read,  every  word.  Of  others  the  first  para- 
graph is  enough.  With  many  articles  a  few  words 
of  the  headline  are  sufficient  to  indicate  that  there  is 
nothing  of  great  interest  for  you  in  that  news.  Each 
item  or  ' 'story, '^  as  every  article  in  a  newspaper  is 
called,  competes  for  your  attention  with  every  other. 
Thus  it  has  come  about  that  instructors  in  journalism 
lay  down  the  rule  that  the  first  sentence  of  every 
story  must  contain  the  nub  of  the  whole  occurrence. 
The  answers  to  Who?  What?  When?  Why?  How? 
and  Where?  should  usually  be  contained  in  the  first 
sentence,  certainly  in  the  first  paragraph,  and  that 
first  paragraph  must  not  have  more  than  half  a  dozen 
lines. 

Just  as  the  first  sentence  is  the  place  of  prime 
importance,  so  the  first  clause  of  the  first  sentence 
should  contain  the  most  important  element.  This 
may  be  a  time  element,  a  place  element,  name,  cause, 
effect,  or  something  similar. 

By  a  peculiar  tattoo  mark  on  his  right  palm, 
John  Smith,  aged  23,  hving  at  45  East  7th  Street, 
this  afternoon  revealed  himself  to  Officer  Jim 
Jones  as  a  badly  wanted  forger. 

This  style  of  news  presentation  seems  to  suit  the 
American  taste  better  than  the  more  expanded  way 
which  might  be  adopted  by  those  unfamiliar  with  the 
elements  of  news- writing: 

This  afternoon  John  Smith  was  arrested, 
charged  with  being  a  member  of  the  forger's  band 
which  has  been  operating  in  this  city.     Efforts 


78  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

have  been  made  by  the  poUce  for  many  months  to 
discover  members  of  this  band.  Officer  Jim  Jones 
was  in  a  cigar  store  on  Seventh  Street  when  Smith 
entered.  When  the  alleged  forger  held  out  his 
hand  to  receive  the  change  from  the  purchase  of  a 
cigar  the  officer  noticed  a  peculiar  tattoo  mark  in 
his  palm.  This  identifying  mark  had  been  ex- 
plained to  all  the  police. 

The  average  reader  lost  interest  in  the  second  item 
before  he  was  half  through.  He  cares  Uttle  for  the 
arrest  of  a  forger,  and  the  briefer  statement  above 
told  him  all  essential  facts. 

Obviously  the  chronological  order  of  facts  has 
nothing  to  do  with  a  good  news  story.  The  most 
important  feature  of  a  ball  game  may  be  in  the  last 
few  minutes  of  play.  No  reporter  will  attempt  to 
compel  his  readers  to  wade  through  a  column  of 
description  of  the  rest  of  the  game  before  reaching 
the  exciting  moment.  He  forces  to  the  front  of  the 
story :  ''By  a  twenty-yard  run  around  left  end  in  the 
last  minute  of  play  Jimsy  Brown,  quarter-back  for 
Yale,  carried  the  ball  over  Harvard's  line  for  the 
first  touchdown  of  the  day."  Or  the  quarter-back 
may  be  sufficiently  well  known  to  open  the  story 
with  his  name. 

In  writing  reports  of  conventions,  never  begin  with 
the  opening  hymn  and  try  to  force  your  readers  to 
read  through  the  entire  three  days'  session.  Put 
in  the  first  paragraph  what  you  consider  the  most 
significant  or  helpful  thing  said,  no  matter  at  what 
time  of  the  meeting  it  was  delivered,  and  make  the 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS 79 

rest  of  your  report  center  about  that,  forgetting 
entirely  most  of  the  details.  Only  thus  can  you  hope 
to  have  the  report  read  by  any  except  those  who 
need  it  least. 

The  best  news  in  the  eyes  of  the  editor  is  the  fact 
which  will  interest  the  greatest  number  of  persons  and 
make  the  greatest  impression.  The  fact  that  John 
Smith,  of  Oshkosh,  has  died  and  left  five  thousand 
dollars  to  the  local  library  for  the  purchase  of  fiction 
is  of  interest  in  Oshkosh  and  in  many  communities  of 
Wisconsin.  It  is  of  minor  interest  to  most  citizens 
two  hundred  miles  or  more  from  Mr.  Smith's  late 
home.  Whether  or  not  the  Oshkosh  library  ever  has 
fiction  is  immaterial  to  them.  The  item  has,  however, 
a  slight  interest  for  librarians  or  others  concerned 
with  acquisition  or  sale  of  books. 

If  the  will  of  the  late  Mr.  Smith,  of  Oshkosh,  had 
contained  a  provision  establishing  a  library  in  his 
birthplace,  Shawnee,  Pennsylvania,  ^^on  account  of 
the  lack  of  facilities  for  reading  in  that  village,"  the 
item  would  have  been  considered  news  in  Oshkosh 
and  Wisconsin  and  also  in  eastern  Pennsylvania.  If 
Mrs.  Smith  had  told  the  papers  how  her  late  husband 
w^hen  a  boy  had  walked  thirteen  miles  to  borrow  a 
book  to  read,  and  had  then  determined  some  day  to 
build  a  library  in  the  town  of  his  birth,  the  item 
would  have  had  an  appeal  to  people  generally.  It 
would  have  been  printed  by  papers  in  all  parts  of  the 
country,  depending  upon  the  amount  of  other  general 
human  interest  news  available  on  the  day  this  item 
came  to  the  attention  of  editors. 


80  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

In  the  same  way  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Brown-Jones 
is  now  the  soprano  in  the  choir  of  the  First  Methodist 
Church  is  of  interest  to  members  of  that  congrega- 
tion and  to  others  in  the  town  to  the  extent  to  which 
the  singer  is  known.  It  is  of  no  interest  to  Metho- 
dists in  other  towns,  and  may  be  of  no  moment  to 
Methodists  in  the  same  town  not  members  of  First 
Chm-ch. 

But  if  Johnnie  Smith  sends  a  grimy  letter  to  the 
pastor  with  a  quarter,  asking  that  Grandma  Brown, 
who  is  bHnd  and  eighty-seven,  may  have  an  instru- 
ment in  her  pew  so  that  she  can  hear  the  sermon,  the 
alert  church  reporter  has  an  item  which  will  touch  the 
heartstrings  and  the  purse  strings  of  everyone  in  his 
own  church,  or  in  no  church,  and  it  has  a  certain 
diminishing  value  outside  the  town. 

The  unusual  has  more  interest  for  people — includ- 
ing yourself — than  the  usual.  This  is  the  reason 
editors  tell  the  world  when  a  preacher's  son  is  arrested 
but  never  record  the  fact  that  his  other  son  stays  at 
home  nights  and  struggles  with  the  Hebrew  Testa- 
ment. Papers  are  blamed  for  carrying  this  principle 
to  an  extreme  and  charged  with  always  playing  up 
the  seamy  side  of  life.  But  expensive  tests  show 
that  church  people  seldom  support  generously  those 
papers  which  do  not  present  the  unusual.  Still  less 
often  do  they  take  time  to  pen  a  letter  to  an  editor 
thanking  him  for  supporting  the  good  and  condemn- 
ing the  bad.  The  church  people  of  any  community 
constitute  the  stable,  reliable  portion  of  the  con- 
stituency of  most  papers.     They  can  get  what  they 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS  81 

demand — if  they  back  their  demand  with  their  pat- 
ronage. 

The  failure  of  church  people  to  protect  their  own 
interests  is  related  by  a  religious  editor  of  The  Chicago 
Tribune.  To  test  the  pulling  power  of  certain 
features  the  managing  editor  one  Sunday  ordered 
omitted  a  real  estate  feature  occupying  less  than  a 
page.  Before  noon  on  Monday  hundreds  of  letters 
and  telephone  calls  had  inquired  for  the  missing  real 
estate  news.  The  feature  was  restored.  A  few 
weeks  later  the  usual  church  notes  were  dropped. 
Not  one  person  inquired  for  them!  If  you  had  been 
managing  editor  what  would  you  have  done?  But 
he  didn't.  The  church  notes  are  still  running, 
although  the  opportunity  is  not  used  as  largely  by 
pastors  as  it  should  be. 

In  writing  news  be  concise.  Make  every  word 
count.  Read  your  article  after  writing  and  count 
the  number  of  words,  even  whole  sentences,  which 
can  be  eUminated  and  the  story  still  be  well  told. 
Some  one  must  pay  for  the  white  space  occupied  by 
every  word  printed  in  a  paper.  If  twenty  persons 
can  be  made  to  read  two  items  instead  of  ten  persons 
one  item,  the  editor  has  helped  to  increase  the  circu- 
lation of  his  sheet.  Additional  items  may  often  be 
crowded  in  by  the  ehmination  of  unessential  words. 

Always  give  the  initials  of  a  man  or  woman  when 
the  name  first  appears  in  a  story.  Take  special 
pains  to  have  both  correct.  You  don't  like  your 
name  misspelled,  and  there  may  be  several  persons 
in  the  vicinity  with  the  same  patronymic. 
6 


82  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

The  rule  most  often  broken  by  amateur  news 
writers  is  that  which  prohibits  the  use  of  editorial 
expression  in  news.  Experience  with  many  groups 
of  ministers  and  students  in  training  for  Christian 
work  shows  that  after  the  most  careful  explanation 
of  the  distinction,  about  12  per  cent  of  the  class  will 
fall  into  the  error  of  expressing  opinion  rather  than 
facts.  Every  well-edited  paper  excludes  from  its 
recital  of  facts  any  comment  on  those  facts,  unless 
the  article  is  signed  or  is  prepared  by  a  specially 
favored  writer.  This  means  that  all  first-person  pro- 
nouns must  be  left  for  another  day,  unless  used  inside 
quotation  marks,  attributed  to  some-  one.  The  well- 
edited  local  paper  will  not  say,  ''Our  church  will  have 
a  special  speaker  in  the  pulpit  next  Sunday."  Who 
is  ^'our"  when  printed  in  the  news  columns  of  the 
community  paper?  When  a  church  is  dedicated,  by 
what  right  may  an  enthusiastic  member  write  for 
publication  in  the  city  paper,  ''The  most  beautiful 
church  in  this  state"?  This  expresses  a  judgment, 
not  a  fact.  The  same  idea  may,  however,  be  given 
with  the  probable  approval  of  the  city  editor:  "What 
many  persons  say  is  the  most  beautiful  church  in  the 
state."  Here  authority,  indefinite  but  not  that  of 
the  paper,  is  credited  with  the  expression  of  opinion. 

Permit  the  copy  writer  or  editor  of  the  newspaper 
to  write  the  headlines.  Furnish  the  facts  in  news 
form  and  the  editor  will  do  the  rest.  His  headline 
contains  only  so  many  letters.  You  do  not  know 
what  style  of  head  he  may  wish.  Large  city  papers 
often  write  two  sizes  of  heads  over  many  articles  so 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS 83 

that  the  make-up  man  may  have  a  choice  in  arrang- 
ing a  symmetrical  paper  with  nicely  balanced  heads 
of  the  same  size. 

News  at  9.00  p.m.  may  be  ancient  history  when  the 
next  sun  arises.  If  you  have  a  morning  paper  in 
town,  and  value  your  reputation  with  the  paper,  let 
not  midnight  find  the  news  outside  the  city  room. 
True,  some  country  papers  run  as  much  matter  one 
week  as  they  can  and  next  week  label  that  which  is 
held  over,  ^ ^Continued  from  last  week,"  without 
offending  the  reader's  ideas  of  timeliness.  With 
daily  papers  the  time  limit  must  be  more  closely 
observed.  Some  facts,  on  the  contrary,  are  news 
even  though  they  are  twenty  years  old.  Such  was 
the  revelation,  a  dozen  years  after  the  event,  of  the 
operation  to  Grover  Cleveland  on  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  while  he  was  President,  and  the  fact  that 
Roosevelt  was  seriously  injured  in  a  boxing  bout  in 
the  White  House.  The  people  were  interested 
enough  to  read  these  facts,  even  though  old  by  or  din- 
ar}^ standards,  because  of  their  concern  for  the  men 
involved.  But  few  church  or  Sunday-school  facts 
can  stand  being  put  aside  until  a  more  convenient 
season. 

After  the  news  is  typewritten  on  one  side  of  the 
paper  and  revised  for  possible  errors  of  spelling,  give 
it  to  the  editor  with  your  compliments.  If  it  is 
worth  printing,  and  the  editor  is  not  biased  against 
any  church,  as  it  should  be  assumed  that  he  is  not, 
the  material  ought  to  see  the  light  of  day,  even 
though  it  may  be  considerably  modified  to  meet  the 


84  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

judgment  of  the  newspaper  man.  Always  remem- 
ber that  it  is  his  paper  which  he  is  editing,  not  yours. 
Try  to  learn  from  the  changes  made,  never  complain, 
and  don't  forget  to  thank  the  powers  that  be  for  the 
favorable  attention  your  church  or  Sunday  school 
does  receive. 

The  rules  for  news-writing  and  the  selection  of  facts 
have  been  developed  through  years  of  work  by  the 
news  editors  of  the  country.  They  may  with  profit 
be  followed  by  the  editor  of  the  church  calendar  and 
parish  paper.  Every  piece  of  publicity  matter  used 
within  the  congregation  ought  to  be  prepared  with  as 
much  attention  to  the  rules  of  news-writing  as  is 
devoted  to  those  articles  which  are  offered  to  the 
town  newspaper.  Observance  of  these  rules  will 
result  in  greater  interest  in  the  work  of  the  church. 

If  the  pastor  or  publicity  chairman  will  remember 
these  suggestions  when  planning  the  next  weekly 
notice  which  the  friendly  editor  prints  to  announce 
the  Sunday  services,  he  will  seek  a  little  longer  than 
has  been  his  wgnt  to  find  something  which  will  inter- 
est the  readers  of  the  paper  as  distinguished  from  the 
members  of  the  congregation.  Find  the  items  which 
make  the  work  of  your  church  that  week  different 
from  the  work  of  other  churches.  This  is  often  very 
difficult.  The  semblance  of  newness  can  be  obtained 
by  variety  in  the  wording  of  the  items,  if  the  style  of 
the  paper  does  not  require  a  set  phraseology.  Never 
print  an  item  in  the  church  calendar  each  week  in  the 
same  way  if  the  contract  with  the  printer  permits 
resetting  the  type.     Seek  to  make  the  most  simple 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS  85 

announcement  in  a  manner  different  from  the  way  in 
which  it  was  made  before. 

Some  Technical  Terms 

Many  editors  of  church  and  Sunday-school  papers 
are  not  trained  news  writers.  They  have  not  had 
opportunity  to  become  famihar  with  many  of  the 
terms  used  in  printing  and  newspaper  offices,  such  as 
the  following: 

Mat.  A  piece  of  dried  paper  pulp  or  papier  mache 
which  has  been  pressed  into  a  type  form  and  thus 
prepared  to  be  used  by  printers  in  casting  a  metal 
plate  which  will  be  used  in  printing.  Mats  are 
cheaper  than  electrotype  plates,  and  being  lighter 
can  be  transported  through  the  mail  at  much  less 
expense.  They  cannot  ordinarily  be  used  by  printers 
in  small  towns  where  a  casting  machine  is  not  often 
available. 

Plates.  Thick  pieces  of  metal  which  may  be 
mounted  on  wood  or  may  be  grooved  on  the  back  so 
as  to  fit  into  an  iron  base  issued  by  the  Western  News- 
paper Union  or  similar  supply  house.  Electrotype 
plates  are  made  by  depositing  copper  on  a  wax  mold 
made  from  type  form  or  a  cut.  This  is  then  backed 
up  with  type  metal.  A  stereotype  plate  does  not  have 
the  copper  facing  and  hence  does  not  permit  so  fine 
printing  as  does  an  electrotype.  A  stereotype  is, 
however,  practical  for  most  newspaper  work. 

Stick.  The  name  of  the  metal  container  held  by  a 
printer  who  sets  type  by  hand.  From  this  use  has 
grown  the  designation  of  a  ^^stick"  to  indicate  about 


86     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

two  and  one  half  inches,  single  column,  of  a  news 
story. 

Em.  The  square  of  any  type  body.  Unless  other- 
wise indicated,  it  usually  means  the  square  of  a  pica 
(12  point) .  A  3-em  dash  means  a  dash  three  times  the 
width  of  the  size  of  face  used  in  the  type. 

Half-tone.  A  printing  block  produced  by  photo- 
engraving process  whereby  Hght  and  dark  spaces 
and  intervening  tones  are  reproduced  by  the  size  of 
dots  from  which  the  picture  is  printed.  On  a  coarse 
screen  half-tone  these  dots  are  easily  visible.  News- 
papers usually  use  from  65  .to  90  screen  for  their  half- 
tones. Much  finer  work  can  be  done  with  a  150 
screen  half-tone.  This,  however,  requires  the  use  of 
calendered  paper  for  a  printing  surface.  By  150 
screen  is  meant  that  there  are  150  crossed  lines  to  the 
inch  on  the  ground-glass  plate  which  is  introduced  by 
the  photo-engraver  between  the  negative  and  the 
subject  photographed. 

Line  drawing  or  line  etching.  When  one  wishes  to 
reproduce  printed  matter  which  does  not  contain  a 
photograph,  or  wishes  to  reproduce  a  picture  made 
with  pen  and  ink,  the  process  is  more  simple  than 
when  a  photograph  is  reproduced.  Black  and  white 
lines  require  no  half-tone  screen.  Zinc  etchings  cost 
less  than  half  the  price  of  half-tones,  which  ordinarily 
are  etched  on  copper.  Line  etchings  can  be  printed  on 
paper  of  any  surface.  Thus  pastors  who  use  a  rough 
paper  for  their  church  bulletins  usually  must  have  a 
drawing  made  of  their  church  for  use  on  the  cover. 


USING  THE  NEWSPAPERS 87 

Copy.  The  original  matter  which  the  printer  or 
the  photographer  uses  to  reproduce. 

Linotype.  A  machine  which  casts  Hues  of  type 
from  brass  matrices,  making  possible  the  setting  of 
type  about  twenty  times  as  fast  as  it  can  be  done  by 
hand.  When  the  type  has  been  used,  it  is  rem  el  ted 
for  another  j  ob.  The  same  term  is  frequently  applied 
to  matter  set  by  such  machines. 

Proof,     An  impression  from  type. 

Proof  reader.  One  who  reads  proof  to  mark  typo- 
graphical errors. 

Copy  reader.  The  person  who  edits  copy  and 
writes  the  headlines,  especially  on  a  newspaper. 
Every  paper  has  from  one  to  a  dozen  persons  whose 
only  business  is  to  edit  copy  and  write  headUnes. 
Other  men  read  proof. 

Galley  proof.  The  first  form  in  which  proof  of  any 
type  is  usually  given.  A  galley  is  a  brass  container 
for  type,  about  two  feet  long;  hence  a  galley  proof  is 
proof  of  type  in  a  galley,  no  matter  what  its  length. 
This  is  contrasted  with  page  proof,  which  is  proof  of 
type  after  it  has  been  made  into  pages.  It  is  expen- 
sive and  difficult  to  make  changes  in  page  proof, 
unless  the  matter  which  is  cut  out  is  replaced  by 
material  which  when  set  is  exactly  the  same  length, 
so  that  changes  from  one  page  are  not  carried  over  to 
succeeding  pages. 

Proof  should  be  handled  like  a  red-hot  iron;  don't 
hold  it.  When  proof  comes,  the  type  has  already 
been  set  and  is  standing  at  the  printer's  ready  to  go 
to  press.     Every  day  that  metal  is  tied  up  in  type 


88     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

means  an  increase  in  the  capital  investment  of  the 
printer.  Frequently  charge  is  made  if  proof  is  held 
beyond  a  certain  reasonable  time.  If  changes  are  to 
be  made  in  matter  after  it  is  sent  to  the  printer,  alter- 
ations should  by  all  means  be  made  in  the  galley 
proof  rather  than  in  the  page  proof.  After  type  is 
set,  it  is  difficult  and  therefore  expensive  to  change. 
Author's  changes  (corrections  in  copy  made  by  the 
writer  who  has  changed  his  mind)  are  charged  for  by 
most  printers.  Temper  of  printers  and  expense  can 
be  saved  if  authors  change  their  minds  before  mat- 
ter is  set. 

Story.  In  newspaper  parlance,  any  article,  poem, 
or  essay,  serious  or  frivolous,  is  a  story. 

Reporter.  Man  or  woman  who  gathers  news  from 
original  sources.  Same  person  usually  writes  it, 
although  in  large  cities  facts  are  telephoned  to  a 
rewrite  man  who  turns  in  the  actual  copy  to  the  city 
desk. 

City  editor.  The  executive  in  charge  of  the  report- 
ers. He  makes  assignments,  indicates  the  length  of 
the  story  to  be  written,  and  sees  all  matter  relating 
to  city  news.  In  the  same  way  papers  have  men  in 
charge  of  the  telegraph,  cable,  sports,  and  other  fea- 
tures. Over  all  is  the  news  editor,  or  the  managing 
editor,  according  to  the  paper's  organization. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PUBLICITY  FOR 
CONVENTIONS  AND  SPECIAL  MEETINGS 

CONVENTIONS, series  of  evangelistic  services,  or 
special  gatherings  of  any  sort,  have  in  them- 
selves news  elements  which  do  not  adhere  to  the 
regular  meetings  of  church  and  Sunday  school. 
PreHminary  newspaper  pubHcity  for  a  convention 
must  be  planned  carefully,  and  a  program  should  be 
laid  down  which  will  bring  to  the  front  a  few  details 
of  the  meeting  each  day  or  so,  in  order  that  with  the 
newest  facts  the  public  may  again  be  told  the  essen- 
tials of  time  and  place  of  the  gathering.  Such  a 
campaign  involves  marshaling  facts  and  events  in  a 
more  or  less  mechanical  or  controlled  fashion.  It 
means  keeping  to  the  rear  some  of  the  big  facts  until 
near  the  finale. 

All  the  principles  of  news-writing  apply  to  publicity 
for  conventions.  If  you  are  an  officer  of  a  county 
Sunday-school  association,  a  state  Christian  En- 
deavor organization,  or  a  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  with  a  convention  in  prospect,  study 
Chapter  VII  in  the  light  of  your  immediate  task.    . 

Thinking  will  be  clarified  if  it  is  kept  in  mind  that 
publicity  for  a  convention  is  for  two  purposes:  (1) 
Directly  for  attendance;  (2)  indirectly  for  attendance 

89 


90  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

and  directly  for  the  public  information  on  facts  allied 
to  the  purpose  of  the  gathering. 

Every  Christian  convention  gives  the  friendly 
editor  an  opportunity  to  hang  on  the  peg  of  the 
special  meeting  some  facts  about  Christianity  or  its 
organized  forces.  Such  meetings  provide  the  seeker 
of  publicity  for  Christianity  a  favorable  chance  to 
enter  the  columns  of  the  papers  to  tell  the  message  of 
the  organization  to  those  not  now  connected  with  it. 
Such  publicity  reenforces  the  desire  of  possible  attend- 
ants to  go  to  the  convention. 

The  plans  here  suggested  are  not  theory.  They 
have  been  put  into  practice  for  a  county  Sunday- 
school  convention,  for  several  state  Sunday-school 
conventions,  for  district  conventions  of  the  Laymen's 
Missionary  Movement,  for  national  Go-to-Sunday- 
School  Days,  and  in  various  other  connections.  If 
carefully  followed,  with  adaptations  to  local  condi- 
tions, they  ought  to  increase  the  attendance  at  any 
convention  and  greatly  add  to  the  public  knowledge 
of  the  principles  for  which  the  organization  stands, 
unless  indeed  conventions  in  the  past  have  had  the 
fortunate  guidance  of  trained  newspaper  men.  There 
is  nothing  unusual  about  the  plans.  Hard  work 
alone  will  make  them  successful. 

The  one  who  manages  the  publicity  for  a  conven- 
tion must  be  in  close  touch  with  the  officers  and  with 
all  developments.  He  should  be  to  the  convention 
authorities  what  the  president's  assistant  is  to  the 
head  of  a  corporation.  He  must  be  trusted  and 
must  be  allowed  to  plan  special  features  which  will 


PUBLICITY  FOR  CONVENTIONS  91 

make  good  news  stories,  without,  of  course,  interfer- 
ing at  all  with  the  dignity  which  ought  to  enshroud 
religious  conventions. 

For  the  sake  of  concreteness  let  us  analyze  the 
publicity  plans  for  a  convention  of  the  Bureau 
County  Sunday  School  Association.  They  are  not 
unusual  but  serve  to  illustrate  the  application  of 
principles.  The  same  plans  were  used  for  a  state 
convention,  and  may  be  adapted  to  any  convention. 

The  Bureau  County  Convention 
The  Sunday  School  Association  of  Bureau  County, 
in  Northwestern  Illinois,  September  17,  18,  1918, 
held  one  of  its  largest  conventions,  and  officers  of  the 
association  freely  attributed  much  of  the  success  of 
the  gathering  to  this  campaign  of  publicity  which 
was  worked  out  with  the  cooperation  of  the  secretary 
of  the  association. 

Publicity  plans  were  initiated  July  20,  two  months 
before  the  meeting.  It  had  been  the  custom  of  the 
association  to  issue  for  each  convention  a  printed 
poster  which  was  sent  to  every  school.  Each  school 
was  also  visited  by  a  county  officer  two  or  three  Sun- 
days previous  to  the  convention.  Letters  were  sent 
to  each  superintendent  telling  who  was  to  speak  at 
the  convention,  and  two  Sundays  before  the  meeting 
each  school  was  provided  with  a  number  of  printed 
programs  for  distribution.  A  banner  given  annually 
to  the  school  sending  the  largest  delegation  stimu- 
lated attendance.  Usually  some  effort  was  made  to 
get  the  local  correspondents  of  the  county  papers  to 


92     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

put  in  items  about  the  convention.  The  convention 
expenditure  for  advertising  and  postage  was  about 
twenty-five  or  thirty  dollars;  it  was  no  larger  in 
1918. 

The  plan  usually  followed  for  getting  attendance 
at  the  county  convention  assumed  that  the  largest 
proportion  of  people  interested  would  come  from  the 
Sunday  schools  themselves.  The  items  put  in  the 
county  papers  constituted  the  only  means  of  an- 
nouncing the  convention  to  those  members  of  the 
community  who  did  not  attend  Sunday  school  the 
three  weeks  preceding.  The  assumption  that  the  ma- 
jority of  persons  interested  in  the  convention  would 
come  from  the  Sunday  schools  is  doubtless  correct, 
and  if  a  program  contemplates  merely  technical  dis- 
cussion, of  interest  only  to  active  Sunday-school  work- 
ers, this  plan  of  publicity  may  be  sufficient.  Every 
Sunday-school  convention,  however,  presents  a  most 
excellent  opportunity  for  bringing  to  the  attention  of 
the  people  of  the  community  the  prime  advantage  of 
studying  the  Bible  in  an  organized  way.  Hence  in 
the  opinion  of  many  workers,  county  officers  over- 
look a  large  and  comparatively  uncultivated  field 
when  they  do  not  use  every  means  in  their  power  to 
reach  members  of  the  community  who  are  not  con- 
stant Sunday-school  attendants. 

The  plan  outlined  for  Bureau  County  was  exceed- 
ingly simple.  The  work  was  done  entirely  by  cor- 
respondence and,  inasmuch  as  the  desire  of  the 
officers  of  the  association  and  their  willingness  to 
cooperate  had  to  be  discovered  as  progress  was  made, 


PUBLICITY  FOR  CONVENTIONS  93 

the  plan  was  not  so  complete  as  many  county  officers 
can  work  out  for  themselves. 

On  July  26  a  letter  was  sent  by  the  secretary  of  the 
association  to  editors  of  the  twelve  newspapers  in 
the  county,  soliciting  their  cooperation  in  the  coming 
convention.  With  this  went  the  first  of  a  series  of 
news  items.  With  changes  in  dates  and  names  this, 
in  lieu  of  a  better  item,  might  be  copied  for  any  county 
convention.  Note  that  this  is  written  as  a  local  item 
for  publication  in  each  paper.  As  local  news  it  re- 
ceived more  attention  than  if  it  had  told  about  the 
convention  at  Lamoille  without  reference  to  people 
in  the  town  in  which  it  was  published. 

Local  Sunday-school  officers  are  interested  in 
the  plans  for  the  coming  county  Sunday-school 
convention  at  Lamoille,  September  17  and  18. 
The  officers  [names  of  president,  vice-president, 
and  secretary  were  inserted]  are  behind  every 
effort  to  make  the  convention  this  year  more  help- 
ful than  ever.  It  is  realized  by  all  Sunday-school 
workers  that  the  schools  have  a  large  part  in  all 
efforts  to  keep  the  morals  of  a  community  at  as 
high  a  standard  as  possible. 

The  convention  will  offer  suggestions  to  workers 
of  all  departments  to  help  them  to  do  their  work 
better.  "Sunday  Schools,"  says  B.  M.  Smith,  of 
Princeton,  president  of  the  county  association, 
"are  needed  to  help  every  person  in  the  county  get 
the  idea  of  morality  we  all  must  have  to  keep  our 
county  in  the  front  line  of  progress." 

(Similar  brief  quotations  from  Sunday-school  work- 
ers may  be  used  to  advantage  in  laying  stress  on  the 
importance  of  attendance.) 


94     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

The  second  news  item  to  the  county  papers  was 
sent  shortly  after  August  7,  to  be  printed  about  a 
month  before  the  convention.  Several  of  the  towns 
had  two  papers,  hence  the  secretary  sent  to  the  paper 
having  the  largest  circulation  the  following  item 
which  is  given  in  full  with  the  brief  note  to  the  editor 
at  the  top: 

To  the  Editor: 

Hundreds  of  readers  in  your  vicinity  will  be 
interested  in  this  item  about  the  coming  Sunday- 
school  convention. 

H.  H.  Morse,  Secretary 

Church  people  of  Lamoille  of  all  denominations 
have  organized  for  the  proper  care  of  the  Bureau 
County  Sunday  School  Convention,  to  be  held  in 
Lamoille,  September  17  and  18.  The  chairman 
of  the  committees  are :     (insert) . 

To  the  second  paper  in  those  towns  where  there 
were  two  weeklies  the  following  item  was  sent : 

Delegates  to  the  coming  Bureau  County  Sunday 
School  Convention  at  Lamoille,  September  17  and 
18,  will  be  entertained  overnight  without  charge, 
according  to  an  announcement  by  the  secretary  of 
the  association,  H.  LI.  Morse,  of  Neponset.  Local 
committees  have  been  appointed  at  Lamoille  and 
everything  possible  has  been  done  to  prepare  for  a 
helpful  convention.  Details  of  the  program  will 
be  announced  soon. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  time,  the  place,  and 
some  of  the  details  of  the  convention  are  given  in 
both  items.     The  opening  sentence,  however,  differs 


PUBLICITY  FOR  CONVENTIONS 95 

in  each  and  each  one  has  some  details  which  the  other 
has  not.  Editors  who  are  careful  about  the  material 
that  goes  into  their  papers  do  not  wish  to  print  an 
item  which  appears  in  identical  language  in  a  com- 
peting paper.  Indeed,  in  larger  cities  there  is  some- 
times difficulty  in  getting  into  the  second  paper 
much  of  any  material  about  a  rehgious  gathering  if 
another  publication  has  been  given  information  first. 
Sometimes  it  is  best  to  deal  exclusively  with  one 
paper,  letting  the  editor  understand  that  no  news  of 
the  same  sort  is  being  sent  to  his  competitor.  In  the 
case  of  the  ordinary  county  Sunday-school  conven- 
tion, however,  most  editors  will  be  glad  to  use  some- 
thing about  the  meeting  even  though  their  com- 
petitors have  the  same  facts.  If  possible  divide  the 
facts  so  that  each  editor  will  have  something  exclu- 
sive. In  some  places  it  will  be  found  better,  however, 
to  give  to  each  paper  all  the  facts  furnished  the  other, 
but  with  different  emphasis. 

The  third  item  was  sent  to  the  papers  on  August  22. 
Following  the  same  form  with  note  to  editor,  as 
given  on  page  94 : 

An  automobile  caravan  will  be  organized  in  this 
town  by  members  of  the  local  Sunday  schools  who 
are  planning  to  attend  the  County  Sunday  School 
Convention  at  Lamoille,  Tuesday  and  Wednesday, 
September  17,  18.  B.  M.  Smith,  of  Princeton, 
president,  and  H.  H.  Morse,  of  Neponset,  secretary 
and  treasurer,  are  in  general  charge  of  the  arrange- 
ments for  the  convention. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  speakers  to  be  pres- 
ent is  W.  C.  Pearce.     Mr.  Pearce  is,     ...     . 


96     CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

About  August  10  the  poster  for  the  convention 
was  drawn  up.  (See  discussion  of  Sunday-school 
posters  in  Chapters  V  and  XII.) 

A  final  item  rounding  up  all  the  facts  of  the  con- 
vention and  more  details  about  the  speakers  was 
sent  to  all  papers  for  pubUcation  the  week  preceding 
the  gathering. 

In  addition  to  these  news  items  the  county  officers 
carried  out  the  usual  program  of  visitation  and  issu- 
ance of  letters.  They  also  did  what  the  writer  con- 
siders one  of  the  most  important  features  of  any  con- 
vention publicity  campaign:  they  issued  a  letter 
directly  after  th«  convention  giving  each  school  the 
number  of  delegates  and  number  of  schools  repre- 
sented, with  a  suggestion  that  pupils  and  officers  read 
their  local  paper  for  a  report  of  the  convention. 
This  report  was  sent  by  the  secretary  to  every  paper 
in  the  country  on  the  day  after  the  convention 
closed. 

Items  to  papers  were  made  comparatively  brief  in 
order  that  they  might  conform  to  the  average  ma- 
terial used  by  the  papers.  They  were  written  with- 
out specific  knowledge  of  the  facilities  in  each  office 
for  setting  type.  County  officers  who  have  available 
copies  of  the  papers  to  which  notices  are  to  be  sent, 
can  plan  a  more  detailed  campaign  by  study  of  the 
various  papers.  If  the  type  is  set  by  hand,  brief 
items  are  most  acceptable.  If  the  office  has  a  type- 
setting machine  and  has  space  for  a  considerable 
amount  of  local  news,  longer  items  will  have  chance 
of  favorable  attention. 


PUBLICITY  FOR  CONVENTIONS 97 

Examples  of  News  Stories 
The  following  items  may  be  suggestive  for  news 
stories  for  papers  of  your  county.     Make  carbon 
copies  of  these,  with  local  names  inserted  in  place  of 
the  italics,  and  offer  to  an  editor  in  each  town : 

Mother  Eliza  Brown,  the  oldest  Sunday-school 
member  in  the  county,  expects  to  hear  every  word 
of  the  coming  Sunday-school  convention,  although 
she  has  not  left  her  home  in  High  Street  for  the  past 
three  years.  Officers  of  the  association  have  ar- 
ranged with  the  local  telephone  company  so  that 
she  can  hear  all  she  wants  of  the  convention 
speakers  during  the  entire  time  of  the  sessions. 
The  meetings  are  expected  to  attract  a  large 
attendance,  in  addition  to  regularly  appointed 
delegates  from  each  school  of  the  county.  (Follow 
with  details  of  the  program.) 


Reports  to  the  secretary  of  the  Jones  County 
Sunday  School  Association  indicate  that  the  at- 
tendance at  the  coming  meeting  at  Lincoln,  Janu- 
ary 30,  will  constitute  the  largest  gathering  of 
Sunday-school  workers  ever  held  in  that  town. 
Reports  have  been  received  from  47*  of  the  56 
schools  in  the  county. 

Among  the  speakers  will  be 

According  to  Dr.  T.  Y.  Jones,  the  oldest  minister 
in  this  part  of  the  state,  every  church  in  Linn 
County  has  been  the  outgrowth  of  a  Sunday  school. 
The  County  Sunday  School  Convention,  to  be  held 
in  Marion  the  first  two  days  of  next  month  will 
lay  plans  for  the  extension  of  religious  work  into 
newly  settled  portions  of  the  county. 

7 


98  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Among  the  subjects  to  be  discussed  are.  .  .  . 
(Follow  with  several  paragraphs  on  history  of 
Sunday-school  work  amplifying  first  sentence.) 

There  is  only  one  Sunday  school  in  the  county 
'  which  cannot  have  a  representative  at  the  coming 
County  Sunday  School  Convention  in  Independ- 
ence, June  17  and  18.  This  is  the  small  school 
conducted  each  Sunday  afternoon  in  the  county 
jail.  Members  of  the  First  Methodist  Church  go 
to  the  jail  every  Sunday  and  have  a  study  of  the 
International  Lesson  among  those  members  of 
Sheriff  Smithes  family  detained  ^'for  the  time 
being.'' 

(Follow  with  details  of  the  class  or  similar  unique 
school  and  features  of  the  convention.) 


The  appeal  of  the  coming  convention  at  Colum- 
bus, May  17,  will  be  to  laymen.  It  is  expected 
that  more  than  half  of  the  men  at  that  gathering 
will  be  business  and  professional  men  who  leave 
desks  and  counters  for  three  days  to  study  better 
Sunday-school  methods. 

(Follow  with  details  of  the  convention,  and  use 
cuts  of  leading  speakers  and  officers.) 


Music  will  have  a  large  part  in  the  coming  State 
Sunday  School  Convention  at  Florence,  June  3-5. 
B.  Y.  Brown,  professor  of  music  at  Jones  Univer- 
sity, will  have  charge  of  the  convention  singing 
and  of  the  Sunday-school  pageant  Thursday  night. 
(Give  details  of  this  and  a  few  other  facts  of  the 
convention.) 

Thirty-five  hundred  and  forty-three  Sunday  schools 
have  been  added  to  the  religious  forces  of  this  state 
since  the  State  Sunday  School  Association  began 


PUBLICITY  FOR  CONVENTIONS  99 

more  aggressive  work  seven  years  ago  under  Secre- 
tary Jones,  of  Kankakee.  This  Association  is  part 
of  the  International  Sunday  School  Association, 
enrolUng  more  than  20,000,000  pupils  and  teach- 
ers.    The  state  convention  at  Joliet,     .... 

Suggestions  given  in  Chapter  II  on  selling  organi- 
zations to  themselves  should  be  applied  to  conven- 
tions and  special  meetings.  Make  the  group  which 
is  responsible  for  the  success  of  the  plan  realize  that 
it  must  do  a  good  deal  of  work.  An  eastern  college 
attempting  to  raise  a  million  dollars  found  that  six 
months  of  precious  time  had  passed  without  result 
because  the  trustees  were  not  themselves  thoroughly 
interested.  Advertising  of  various  sorts  was  sug- 
gested to  sell  them  their  own  proposition.  Thus  in 
some  churches  the  idea  of  special  services  will  have 
to  be  advertised  thoroughly — especially,  perhaps,  the 
idea  that  the  church  people  should  become  personal 
assistants  to  the  evangelist  during  the  effort. 

Newspaper  Advertising  Has  Advantages 
In  paid  display  space  in  newspapers  officials  of 
conventions  can  use  the  imperative  tense,  as  they 
cannot  in  news  items.  There  is  high  value  in  display 
space  in  selhng  other  things;  why  not  in  selling  the 
idea  of  a  convention,  or  a  community  training  class, 
or  special  evangelistic  meetings?  Space  in  papers  is 
measured  and  priced  by  the  agate  line  (14  to  the 
inch),  or  by  the  inch,  and  costs  roughly  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  cents  an  inch  per  thousand  circulation. 
Thus  for  ninety  cents  a  thousand,  one  may  have  an 


100  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

announcement  three  inches  high  across  two  columns 
sent  to  every  subscriber  to  the  paper.  The  cost  of 
sending  a  post  card  to  an  equal  number  would  be 
about  fifteen  dollars  a  thousand.  Of  course,  the  post 
card  would  go  to  a  select  list,  but  the  advertisement 
in  the  paper  will  reach  many  who  may  be  interested, 
and  yet  will  never  be  found  on  any  hst  available  to 
the  Sunday-school  association  or  pastor. 

Material  for  such  advertisement  can  well  follow 
the  general  lines  of  a  poster,  but  the  copy  should  be 
changed  with  every  insertion,  retaining  the  name  of 
the  association,  or  some  catch  phrase  in  each  adver- 
tisement as  an  identifying  mark  to  build  up  a  reputa- 
tion for  the  association.  Display  advertising  of  this 
sort  is  to  be  recommended  only  in  certain  cases.  It 
is  most  effective  when  continued.  When  only  one 
insertion  is  possible,  the  space  should  be  large.  It 
ought  to  be  possible  in  connection  with  state  con- 
ventions to  have  friendly  merchants  donate  to  the 
association  part  of  their  advertising  space  to  be  used 
to  urge  attendance.  This  has  been  done  with  good 
success  in  some  cities  in  connection  with  Go-to- 
Sunday-School  Day,  Mother^s  Day,  and  on  other 
special  occasions. 

Proclamations  by  the  governor  of  the  state  or  the 
mayor  of  the  town  have  been  used  with  excellent 
effect  in  advertising  Go-to-Sunday-School  Day  and 
similar  special  events  in  which  most  of  the  people  of 
the  community  will  participate.  Official  announce- 
ment by  civic  authorities  is  often  good  advertising. 

Don't  forget  that  the  motion-picture  houses  in 


PUBLICITY  FOR  CONVENTIONS 101 

a  community  gather  every  week  thousands  of  persons 
who  look  at  the  screen  with  concentrated  attention. 
A  screen  invitation  from  the  churches  of  the  commu- 
nity to  participate  in  the  special  event  which  is  also 
being  advertised  by  other  means  will  get  into  their 
minds,  and  if  the  suggestion  is  phrased  to  reach  the 
people  much  good  ought  to  result. 

Every  auxiliary  means  which  can  be  found  to  add 
to  the  impact  of  the  convention  or  special  meetings 
will  strengthen  all  the  other  efforts.  Let  darts  of 
suggestion  hit  the  individual  man  from  every  direc- 
tion. His  attention  will  be  arrested;  perhaps  his 
conscience  will  be  pricked. 

Cards  or  tickets  of  admission  appeal  more  to 
children,  perhaps,  than  to  adults,  unless  the  tickets 
admit  to  a  meeting  at  which  it  is  expected  that  the 
crowd  will  greatly  tax  the  seating  capacity  of  the 
building.  They  can  be  used,  however,  to  advertise 
a  feature  of  a  state  convention,  such  as  a  pageant, 
in  order  to  stimulate  attendance  from  the  local 
churches. 

In  printing  tickets,  as  with  all  printed  matter, 
care  should  be  taken  to  have  the  quality  of  the  stock 
and  the  workmanship  reflect  the  high  standing  of  the 
church  or  Sunday  school  in  the  life  of  the  community. 
Poor  printing  is  usually  expensive  in  ways  which  can- 
not be  traced,  lowering  respect  for  the  institution 
issuing  it,  classing  the  organization  with  cheap,  un- 
important institutions.  On  the  other  hand  extrava- 
gance in  deckle  edges,  many  colors,  gilt  edges,  and  the 
like,  is  to  be  avoided. 


102  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Personal  Work  Is  Always  Effective 

Nothing  excels  the  heart-to-heart  talk  of  two 
friends  as  a  selling  factor.  Let  a  friend  invite  you 
to  the  next  Sunday-school  convention,  and  a  favor- 
able impression  is  left.  If  you  see  the  convention 
mentioned  in  your  local  paper  and  in  the  church 
calendar  and  then  receive  a  letter  about  it,  the  im- 
pression is  much  deepened.  The  personal  invita- 
tion alone  might  have  induced  you  to  go,  but  it  was 
helped  by  the  other  avenues  through  which  you  have 
heard  of  it. 

Get  ten  people  to  telephone  ten  or  twenty  persons, 
inviting  them  to  a  convention,  or  community  train- 
ing class,  and  the  news  spreads  rapidly.  Assign 
definite  work,  and  ask  reports  on  all  work  done. 

Personal  letters  by  key  persons  in  each  community 
will  go  far  toward  influencing  others  to  attend  a  con- 
vention. 

The  sending  of  two  or  three  good  speakers  to  visit 
schools  and  churches  helps  to  generate  enthusiasm  for 
a  Sunday-school  cause,  and  enthusiasm  is  needed  for 
the  convention.  Speakers  help  to  make  the  idea  of 
attendance  popular.  It  becomes  the  ^'fashion"  to 
go.  This  is  the  aim  of  all  publicity  for  conventions. 
A  team  of  two  is  more  than  twice  as  good  as  one  be- 
cause of  the  operation  of  crowd  psychology.  Christ 
sent  out  the  Seventy,  two  by  two,  and  no  better 
teacher  of  psychology  has  yet  arisen. 


CHAPTER  IX 
OTHER  USES  OF  PUBLICITY 

MANY  times  you  have  felt  like  writing  to  the 
editor  of  your  paper  to  tell  him  that  this  thing 
was  right  or  the  other  thing  was  wrong.  Once  in  a 
while  you  have  done  so.  The  editor  knows  that  for 
every  letter  he  receives  perhaps  several  hundred  per- 
sons feel  as  does  the  one  writer.  If,  when  a  moral 
issue  is  before  the  people,  the  impulse  to  write  such 
letters  can  be  stimulated,  important  pressure  may  be 
brought  to  bear  on  the  papers.  Through  the  publi- 
cation of  communications  pubhc  opinion  may  be 
influenced  for  the  right. 

Letters  from  taxpayers,  when  the  city  council  is 
not  inclined  to  do  the  courageous  thing  in  some  mat- 
ter before  it,  are  often  effective.  A  group  of  fearless 
Christians  organized  to  send  such  letters  to  papers 
and  stimulate  others  to  be  written  is  one  way  of  using 
legitimate  publicity  to  further  the  cause  of  right. 
Suppose  on  this  same  question  before  the  city  council 
certain  clubs  pass  resolutions.  That  action  is  news. 
Possibly  the  papers  will  print  the  text  of  such  resolu- 
tions. If  they  have  been  written  with  this  use  in 
mind  they  will  be  more  readily  treated  as  news,  and 
read  by  a  larger  number  of  persons,  than  otherwise. 
If  a  committee  interested  in  certain  good  causes 
introduces  resolutions  in  meetings  of  young  people's 

103 


104   CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

organizations,  men's  clubs,  lodges,  or  other  bodies 
favorable  to  the  cause  under  discussion — whatever  it 
may  be — the  basis  for  news  stories  is  created.  In 
this  manner  facts  and  editorial  expressions  can  be 
pubhshed  which  could  not  otherwise  gain  entrance 
into  the  news  columns. 

Such  action  upholds  the  hands  of  the  editor  who 
may  wish  to  support  the  right,  but  who  hesitates  so 
to  do  because  of  business  connections.  If  the  facts 
and  argument  come  to  him  in  the  form  of  letters,  or 
in  the  shape  of  resolutions  adopted  by  important 
gatherings,  he  often  cannot  ignore  them.  He  must 
print  the  news  of  the  town.  Thus  he  can  justify 
his  course  in  giving  currency  to  the  ideas  of  the 
^'reformers"  when  his  business  associates  reproach 
him  for  not  following  their  wishes  in  suppressing 
information  about  the  state  of  pubhc  opinion  on  the 
matter  before  the  council. 

Perhaps  allsuch  uses  of  pubhcity  come  under  the 
head  of  diplomacy.  Certainly  in  Washington  and 
in  state  capitals  astute  men  and  women  seize  every 
opportunity  to:  have  pubhshed  items  and  articles 
supporting  their  side  of  various  questions.  The 
forces  of  evil  have  their  paid  agents  constantly  at 
work  making  opportunities  for  such  news.  The 
children  of  light  must  be  as  wise  as  the  children  of 
darkness.     But  often  they  are  not. 

Preachers  can  use  the  papers  to  further  moral 
reforms  by  furnishing  quotable  extracts  from  their 
sermons.  Sunday  night  usually  is  a  dead  time  from 
a  news  standpoint.     Monday  morning  papers  offer  a 


OTHER  USES  OF  PUBLICITY  105 

golden  opportunity  for  the  churches.  If  something 
can  happen  or  be  made  to  happen,  if  a  preacher  can 
say  just  the  right  thing  to  be  used  as  news,  the  reUgi- 
ous  forces  can  get  display  news  heads  Monday 
morning. 

Such  projects  as  the  development  of  interest  in 
week-day  religious  schools,  in  better  hbraries,  im- 
proved schools,  and  similar  community  enterprises 
can  be  furthered  by  wise  use  of  publicity.  All  are 
projects  in  which  the  community  has  some  interest. 
This  interest  can  be  increased  by  judicious  resolu- 
tions passed  by  various  bodies,  by  proper  letters 
written  to  the  editor,  by  speeches  at  gatherings  to 
which  reporters  have  been  invited,  and  by  signed 
articles  in  local  papers  from  the  pens  of  authorities 
on  the  subject  under  discussion.  If  the  matter  can 
be  made  the  theme  of  a  debate  in  a  neighborhood 
association,  a  church  club,  or  similar  gathering,  the 
event  will  have  a  news  element  which  will  help  to  bring 
the  facts  into  the  light  of  the  daily  paper  and  thence 
into  the  minds  of  those  whom  the  sponsors  of  the 
idea  wish  to  influence. 

Several  examples  of  this  sort  of  effort  to  increase 
civic  righteousness  by  publicity  are  given  in  '  Pub- 
licity and  Progress,"  Smith,  Chapter  IX. 

Raising  Money  by  Publicity 
Money  can  be  raised  by  publicity  when  the  proper 
preliminary  efforts  have  been  made  to  interest  the 
people.     When  a  great  popular  emotion  like  patriot- 
ism has  aroused  the  nation,  the  call  to  subscribe  for 


106  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Liberty  Bonds  finds  eager  response.  When  a  maga- 
zine asks  its  readers  for  gifts  to  help  save  the  starving 
of  China,  money  rolls  in  by  the  hundred  thousand  a 
day.  All  this  is  done  through  the  wise  use  of  pub- 
hcity.  Of  course  in  these  and  similar  cases  the  news- 
papers were  ready  to  give  space  to  the  facts  and  in 
many  instances  to  print  appeals  in  the  news  columns. 
The  editors  felt  that  the  information  was  what  the 
people  wished  to  know. 

To  raise  money  for  a  local  hospital,  a  college,  or  a 
new  church  building,  the  laws  of  publicity  and  psy- 
chology previously  described  can  be  put  to  use.  In- 
formation must  precede  interest.  Money  will  not  be 
given  for  objects  concerning  which  people  do  not 
know.  College  presidents  frequently  need  more 
money  for  endowment  or  for  another  dormitory. 
Some  of  them  think  that  by  announcing  their  need 
in  the  papers  the  cash  will  come  in.  It  will  come  to 
the  extent  to  which  the  people  appealed  to  know  about 
the  need  and  have  an  interest  in  the  institution.  If 
that  interest  has  been  sufficiently  engendered  because 
of  information  either  from  residence  there  as  a  stu- 
dent, through  talks  by  agents  of  the  college,  or  by 
pastors,  pledges  will  come.  But  the  information  must 
be  given,  and  in  many  varied  forms. 

Cornell  University  has  raised  a  large  sum  of  money, 
as  have  also  Smith  and  Wellesley  and  New  York 
University  by  organization,  paid  advertising,  pub- 
licity stunts  by  local  committees,  and  news  stories  of 
the  way  the  money  was  being  raised.  A  group  of 
Smith  girls  rented  an  old  barn  near  a  fashionable 


OTHER  USES  OF  PUBLICITY  107 

drive  and  by  selling  hot  waffles  made  money  for  the 
college,  but  they  also  made  news  for  the  papers, 
because  all  the  women  in  town  were  ready  to  read 
about  these  venturesome  Smith  women.  This  pub- 
licity brought  more  customers  and  they  brought 
more  money;  thus  the  fun  grew.  Cornell  used  large 
display  space  in  daily  papers  of  the  east  to  good 
advantage.     Other  colleges  have  done  the  same. 

Publicity  for  such  a  campaign  must  be  wisely 
managed.  Papers  seldom  print  appeals  for  cash  as, 
^'Send  checks  to  J.  J.  Brown  at  once."  But  Mr. 
Brown  can  be  made  to  say  something  interesting  at 
some  important  gathering,  and  the  publicity  man 
can  see  that  incidentally  the  fact  is  mentioned  that 
he  is  treasurer  of  the  Blank  College  fund.  Or  the 
speech  may  be  about  the  importance  of  supporting 
colleges  liberally,  and  the  report  of  the  address  be  in 
itself  an  argument  for  giving  to  such  causes. 

The  plan  for  such  a  campaign,  including  the  paid 
advertising,  circulars,  letters,  post-card  follow  ups, 
news  stories,  and  activities  of  various  suborganiza- 
tions  must  be  worked  out  carefully,  and  should  fit 
into  a  plan  similar  to  that  outlined  in  Chapter  I  of 
this  book. 

The  product  which  the  institution  has  for  sale  must 
be  analyzed.  This  will  differ  for  a  college  and  for  a 
church  which  needs  a  new  edifice.  The  field  for  the 
''sale"  of  this  interest  must  be  closely  scanned.  The 
different  classes  of  persons  who  ought  to  be  interested 
should  be  listed  and  subdivided.     Then  answer  the 


108  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

question,  How  can  we  reach  these  people?  List  the 
available  means,  written  and  spoken,  of  all  sorts. 

A  theological  seminary  in  need  of  $3,000,000  was 
recently  started  on  its  task.  Its  constituency  was 
mostly  in  one  state,  although  its  alumni  were  inter- 
ested, and  more  widely  scattered.  The  alumni  in 
the  state  were  organized  into  committees  of  small 
units,  and  names  of  men  and  women  interested,  or 
who  ought  to  be  interested,  were  sent  to  the  office. 
In  a  short  time  a  mailing  list  of  over  10,000  was 
obtained.  An  advertising  campaign  was  started 
with  weekly  copy  in  the  periodical  read  by  most  of 
the  men  of  wealth  of  the  denomination  affected.  A 
reporter  on  a  local  paper  was  employed  to  send  out 
news  stories  about  the  seminary  to  papers  of  the 
state,  using  his  news  instinct  to  find  the  items  and  to 
help  make  other  news-bearing  things  to  happen.  To 
keep  in  touch  with  the  people  on  the  mailing  list,  a 
four-page  semimonthly  paper  was  started,  stressing 
the  cause  of  better  trained  ministers  and  giving  the 
news  of  the  campaign.  This  created  and  main- 
tained interest  in  the  institution  among  those  already 
having  some  contact.  Leaflets  setting  forth  the  plans 
of  the  institution  were  prepared  and  sent  to  the 
names  on  the  list,  and  used  by  members  of  the  faculty 
and  agents  of  the  seminary  as  they  spoke  to  groups 
on  the  needs  of  the  institution. 

Another  institution  raises  its  needed  $200,000  a 
year  solely  through  weekly  advertisements  in  the 
leading  paper  of  the  denomination  with  which  it  is 
affiliated,  plus  the  activities  of  an  agent  of  the  college 


OTHER  USES  OF  PUBLICITY 109 

who  makes  personal  calls  over  the  country,  and  writes 
personal  notes  as  opportunity  can  be  created.  The 
advertisements  prepare  the  way  for  him,  save  ex- 
planations, and  create  a  favorable  atmosphere  for  a 
personal  presentation  of  the  needs  of  the  institution. 
Through  these  advertisements  large  sums  of  money 
have  been  sent  directly  to  the  school  without  other 
appeal  than  that  provided  by  the  weekly  announce- 
ments. Small  gifts  of  this  sort  are  cultivated  into 
larger  sums  by  personal  letters  and  continued  adver- 
tising. 

Another  college  depends  largely  on  organization 
and  dinners  to  which  possible  givers  are  invited. 
Large  sums  have  been  raised  in  this  way,  but  the 
expense  has  been  upwards  of  15  per  cent,  as  against 
less  than  1  per  cent  with  advertising  plus  personal 
visits  of  one  person.  With  the  dinner  method,  the 
pastor  of  the  church  of  the  denomination  with  which 
the  college  is  affihated  is  visited  and  his  interest 
obtained.  A  dinner  is  planned  to  which  the  leading 
men  of  the  town  are  invited,  without  much  advance 
information  being  given  concerning  the  object.  At 
this  meal,  paid  for  by  the  college,  several  speakers  set 
forth  the  need  of  religious  education  and  the  require- 
ments of  this  college.  Leaflets  about  the  college  are 
also  distributed.  The  next  day,  and  for  a  week  or 
more,  the  guests  at  the  dinner  are  visited  by  agents 
of  the  college,  supplemented  by  neighboring  pastors 
working  on  commission,  and  pledges  are  sought. 
Only  the  best  obtainable  help  is  used,  but  it  is  un- 
trained for  this  work  and  inexpert.     Expenses  run 


no  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

high,  but  the  plan  has  been  voted  successful  in  small 
towns  and  cities.    It  has  reached  much  ''new"  money. 

Good  Advertising 
Reduces  Cost  of  Raising  Money 

Expert  money  raisers  are  scarce.  Those  colleges 
and  institutions  which  have  been  largest  users  of 
advertising  and  pubhcity  seem  to  have  the  best 
continuous  success  at  lowest  net  cost  per  dollar 
raised.  The  building  up  of  a  body  of  informed  con- 
stituents who  will  give  increasing  sums  each  year  is 
perhaps  the  ideal  to  be  sought  by  colleges  which  are 
not  fully  endowed.  Giving  follows  interest.  In- 
formation by  personal  contact  is  most  effective,  but 
most  expensive.  The  personal  contact  plan  fails  to 
develop  new  prospects,  such  as  the  friend  who  pinned 
a  check  for  $25,000  to  an  advertisement  of  a  fund  for 
pensioning  aged  ministers.  He  never  had  come  into 
direct  touch  with  any  representative  of  the  Board  be- 
friended. But  the  advertisements,  repeated  weekly, 
cultivated  his  confidence.     He  responded^ 

One  college  president  of  the  west  dehghts  in  relat- 
ing how  he  borrowed  twenty  dollars  to  begin  adver- 
tising in  church  papers  and  how  the  discovery  of  only 
one  of  the  many  friends  thus  brought  to  the  surface 
will  pay  for  his  advertising  for  many  years. 

Naturally  this  type  of  advertising,  as  all  resultful 
advertising,  must  be  carefully  constructed.  General 
statements  must  give  way  to  specific  instances. 
Print  a  picture  of  a  poor  boy  locked  out  of  college 
because  the  classrooms  are  full  to  overflowing.     With 


OTHER  USES  OF  PUBLICITY  111 

the  proper  approach,  such  human  interest  facts  ought 
to  pull  checks  from  people.  The  name  of  the  college 
and  the  amount  of  the  need  alone  will  not  get  big 
results.  College  advertisements,  like  every  piece  of 
writing,  must  be  constructed  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  reader.  There  must  be  some  point  of  contact 
which  can  be  developed  into  interest  in  the  particu- 
lar institution. 


CHAPTER  X 
ADVERTISING  RELIGION  IN  PAID  SPACE 

A  REAL  estate  dealer  visited  the  home  of  a  Pres- 
byterian pastor  in  a  small  Nebraska  town,  and 
upon  learning  the  name  of  the  clergyman  said,  ^'Oh, 
you  are  the  preacher  who  puts  those  advertisements 
in  the  paper." 

The  clergyman  admitted  his  church  had  been  ad- 
vertising the  gospel. 

''Well,"  continued  the  visitor,''!  don't  go  to  church, 
but  my  wife  and  I  this  winter  have  formed  the  habit 
of  getting  down  the  family  Bible  every  Saturday 
when  those  advertisements  come  out  and  we  look  up 
the  Scripture  reference  you  print." 

This  incident  typifies  the  hope  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced thinkers  on  church  advertising  that  every 
advertisement  paid  for  by  a  religious  organization 
shall  carry  ta  the  reader  something  of  uplift,  whether 
or  not  the  reader  accepts  the  accompanying  invita- 
tion to  attend  the  particular  service  also  announced. 
The  advertisements  used  by  this  Nebraska  clergyman 
cost  $1.80  a  week.  He  had  been  paying  the  expense 
from  his  own  pocket,  but  when  the  trustees  saw  the 
increased  interest  in  the  church  they  gladly  appro- 
priated $200  a  year  to  continue  the  announcements. 

A  large  Presbyterian  church  in  Brooklyn  was  con- 
verted to  the  use  of  paid  space  to  advertise  religion 

112 


ADVERTISING  RELIGION  IN  PAID  SPACE      113 

and  church  attendance  rather  than  merely  the  ser- 
mon of  the  pastor.  The  audiences  increased  after 
two  weeks  of  the  changed  appeal  and  many  comments 
were  made  on  the  advertisements. 

Some  ministers  and  laymen  are  prejudiced  against 
church  advertising  of  whatever  sort  because  of  the 
blatant  practices  of  some  churches  which  have  been 
misled  into  beUeving  it  is  advisable  to  imitate  a 


Do  You  Know  What  Palm  Sunday  Means  ? 

It  means  the  triumph  of  the  King,  the  crowning  with  praise  of 
the  Lord  of  glory,  the  triumphal  entry  of  Christ  into  Jerusalem. 

How  long  is  it  since  you  praised  God?  How  long  since  you 
gloried  in  his  triumph?  How  long  will  Christ  have  to  wait  to 
enter  into  your  heart? 

To-morrow  will* be  a  good  time  to  decide  the  matter.  Go  and 
join  in  the  throngs  that  will  praise  him.  Go  and  join  in  the 
hosannas  and  strew  his  path  with  palms  of  victory.  It  will  do 
your  soul  good.     You  need  it  and  God  needs  you. 

THROOP  AVENUE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

If  You  Don't  Know  Where  It  Is,  Go  to  the  Church  Nearest  You 


Because  it  broke  away  from  the  Brooklyn  custom  of  announcing 
merely  the  time  and  place  of  service,  the  above  announcement 
created  much  favorable  comment.     Notice  the  last  line. 

vaudeville  show  in  program  and  announcement  in 
order  to  spread  the  gospel.  Church  advertising  as 
considered  in  this  volume  means  telling  people  some- 
thing of  the  gospel,  in  terms  which  they  can  under- 
stand, and  inviting  them  to  a  certain  place  where 
other  details  will  be  explained.  Using  paid  space 
means  stepping  forth  from  the  congregation  and  ad- 
dressing a  world  which  knows  there  are  churches,  but 
which  seldom  enters  their  doors,  and  not  infrequently 
8 


The  Golden  Rule  Will  Work 


WHATEVER  your  business,  the 
Golden  Rule  of  the  Bible  will 
work.  Try  it  in  its  complete  applica- 
tion. You  will  have  more  satisfaction — 
and  more  business. 

Treat  your  employes  as  you  would 
want  to  be  treated  if  the  hired  man 
were  boss. 

If  you  are  employed,  do  your  work 
as  you  would  want  it  done  if  you 
handled  the  check  book. 

In  your  home  treat  your  children  as 
you  would  want  to  be  treated  by  God, 
your  Father. 

''Children,  obey  your  parents/*  says 
the  good  book. 

The  principles  of  the  Bible  can 
never  be  disproved.  Follow  its  teach- 
ings and  nothing  but  good  can  result. 

First  Congregational  Church 

What  better  use  can  be  found  for  home-mission  money  for  influenc- 
ing a  community  than  to  print  this  suggestion  in  local  newspapers? 
It  is  one  of  twelve  plated  advertisements  prepared  by  the  author  of 
this  book  and  issued  by  the  Western  Newspaper  Union  for  smaller 
papers.  They  were  used  in  235  papers  with  a  possible  audience  of 
2,300,000. 

114 


ADVERTISING  RELIGION  IN  PAID  SPACE      115 

ignores  the  principles  for  which  the  churches  stand. 
To  explain  the  principles  of  Christianity  to  these  out- 
siders and  persuade  them  to  attend  the  church  they 
have  neglected,  perhaps  for  years,  is  not  an  easy  task. 
But  there  is  more  hope  of  reaching  a  large  number  of 
non-church  members  through  the  daily  papers  than 
through  any  other  medium.  By  the  papers  it  is 
possible  to  go  into  the  highways  and  hedges  and  seek 
to  compel  them,  through  the  applied  psychology  of 
the  printed  word,  to  come  in. 

Shall  the  Publicity  Committee  plan  for  a  paid 
advertisement  only  on  Rally  Day,  Christmas,  and 
Easter?  Or  is  it  wiser  to  plan  for  a  definite  campaign 
throughout  the  year?  The  experience  of  commercial 
advertisers  and  the  tests  in  university  laboratories  all 
commend  a  regular  campaign.  If  a  man  is  invited  in 
a  different  way  every  week  of  the  year  to  go  to  a  cer- 
tain place,  he  will  be  more  likely  to  accept  than  if  the 
invitation  comes  three  times  a  year  at  intervals  of 
four  months.  By  all  means  plan  for  a  regular  weekly 
advertising  campaign  for  both  church  and  school. 
And  why  cease  advertising  in  summer,  even  if  it  be 
necessary  to  close  the  church?  People  have  greater 
need  of  the  restraining  hand  of  religion  in  hot  weather, 
when  the  preachers  are  on  vacation,  than  in  winter 
when  all  the  churches  and  Sunday  schools  are  running 
full  blast.  Use  the  papers  to  preach  to  the  people. 
Reach  them  where  they  are  when  it  is  too  hot  to 
dress  and  go  to  church.  It  is  seldom  too  hot  to  read 
the  Saturday  afternoon  paper. 

Professor  Adams,  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 


116  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

well  says  that  any  fact  which  is  once  well  known  will 
in  the  course  of  time  be  forgotten.  Churches  cannot 
assume  that  because  they  have  been  occupying  the 
same  unadvertised  spot  for  a  half  century  that  people 
will  continue  coming  to  service.  Out  of  every  one 
thousand  persons  in  the  United  States  fourteen  die 
each  year,  and  many  are  annually  coming  to  the  age 
of  understanding.  Commerce  and  religion  must 
keep  facts  before  the  people. 

Commerce  has  also  discovered  that  ''card'^  adver- 
tisements, such  as  ^^J.  A.  Snyder,  Shoes,'^  do  not  sell 
shoes  nearly  so  fast  as  does  the  announcement  of  the 
more  progressive  man  who  tells  about  the  style  of 
the  shoe,  its  quality  and  finish,  and  so  forth.  Some 
churches  are  passing  through  the  stage  of  advertising 
from  which  commerce  emerged  forty  years  ago. 
Even  banks,  those  conservative,  stable  affairs  which 
one  time  thought  that  an  incomprehensible  set  of 
figures  was  possessed  of  occult  powers  as  an  attrac- 
tion of  business,  have  seen  a  new  light.  To-day 
banks  are  among  the  most  progressive  advertisers  of 
any  town.  Live  banks  have  increased  their  deposits 
manyfold,  and  the  nonadvertising  institutions  have 
lost  pace  in  the  procession.  This  has  been  proved 
in  scores  of  towns.  If  churches  and  Sunday  schools 
can  learn  a  lesson  from  commerce  and  pass  over  the 
^'measles"  stage  of  advertising  they  will  save  much 
money  and  accompUsh  more  good. 

Religious  advertising  has  a  home-mission  aspect 
which  is  more  easily  understood  since  the  propaganda 
during  the  War  showed  the  power  of  the  press  in 


ADVERTISING  RELIGION  IN  PAID  SPACE      117 

turning  the  opinion  of  masses  of  men  in  certain 
directions.  The  pastor  of  a  suburban  Chicago  church 
said  he  did  not  need  to  advertise  in  the  local  paper 
because  his  and  three  other  churches  on  the  east  side 
of  the  tracks  had  every  family  Hsted,  and  knew  just 
who  did  not  go  to  any  church. 

'^The  people  on  the  west  side  of  the  tracks  won't 
come  to  our  churches.  We  can't  reach  them,  no 
matter  what  we  do,"  continued  the  minister. 

He  admitted,  however,  that  the  people  on  the  west 
side  needed  the  constructive  force  of  the  gospel  more 
than  those  who  lived  among  the  ehte.  He  frankly 
added,  also,  as  a  new  light  dawned,  that  the  west 
siders  took  the  local  paper  and  that  the  substance  of 
a  sermon  printed  there  would  reach  them  effectively 
and  tend  to  make  them  better  citizens.  He  left  the 
office  of  his  adviser  to  sell  that  idea  to  his  trustees. 

How  Much  Shall  We  Spend? 
If  the  potential  advertiser  is  now  almost  persuaded 
and  asks,  ''How  much  shall  we  spend?"  some  hght 
may  be  shed  by  the  records  of  commercial  concerns. 
Business  houses  make  their  advertising  appropria- 
tions upon  various  bases,  although  the  most  common 
is  that  of  a  certain  percentage  of  sales.  It  is  reported 
in  advertising  journals  that  33^  per  cent  of  the 
gross  sales  of  Arrow  Collars  is  used  annually  in  ad- 
vertising that  product.  Colgate  and  Company  is 
said  to  expend  2  per  cent,  Great  Northern  Railway 
1.83  per  cent,  Ivory  Soap  3  per  cent,  Sears,  Roebuck 
10  per  cent.     The  latter  concern  has  1300  persons 


118  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

in  its  advertising  department.     Marshall  Field  and 
Company,  credited  with  doing  28  per  cent  of  all  the 


Is  This  the  Way  to  Heaven? 


This  question  by  a  poor  child  in 
one  of  the  first  Sunday  schools  in 
England  in  1792,  was  answered  in 
the  affirmative. 

Many  a  child^  and  adult  too,  has 
found  that  regular  church  and 
Sunday  school  attendance  opens 
to  them  the  gates  of  Heaven. 

Perhaps  you  would  like  to  start 
too.    There's  no  admission  charge. 

Go  to  some  Sunday  school  next 
Sunday. 


Learn  the  ^^ Jesus  Way'' 


This  headin^'ought  to  attract  those  outside  the  church — and  those 
are  the  ones  vvlioni  we  seek  to  reach  in  newspaper  advertising.  This 
is  one  of  a  series  contributed  for  the  good  of  the  town  by  the  Eastern 
Shore  News,  Cape  Charles,  Virginia.  Note  the  simplicity  of  the 
type  arrangement. 

department  store  business  in  Chicago,  expends  only 
1  per  cent  of   the  gross  sales  in  advertising.     The 


ADVERTISING  RELIGION  IN  PAID  SPACE      119 

usual  retail  store  figure  is  nearer  3  per  cent,  the  aver- 
age for  all  Chicago  being  2.57  per  cent.  Some  con- 
cerns appropriate  a  certain  sum  per  unit  sold,  like 
the  sellers  of  oranges  in  Cahfornia.  It  is  reported 
that  the  Sherwin-Williams  Company,  maker  of  paints, 
cannot  increase  its  sales  unless  at  least  33/2  P^r  cent 
is  spent  in  advertising.  This  figure  is  the  result  of 
close  study. 

What  would  3  per  cent  of  the  gross  income  of  your 
church  amount  to?  Would  this  sum  be  more  than 
could  be  profitably  used  for  all  publicity?  The  Presby- 
terian Department  of  Publicity  several  years  ago  sug- 
gested a  minimum  of  one  dollar  a  year  a  member  for 
publicity  and  advertising  in  the  local  field  of  each 
church,  and  a  number  of  pastors  say  that  this  average 
works  well.  The  church  must  not  be  extravagant.  It 
can  tell  its  message  on  a  smaller  expenditure  than 
many  enterprises  far  less  essential  to  the  world's  hap- 
piness and  progress,  but  the  church  ought  not  to  rest 
in  the  belief  that  it  can  do  no  advertising  and  expect 
to  attract  people  in  growing  numbers.  Christian  col- 
leges expend  from  5  to  10  per  cent  of  their  total  budget 
in  promotion  work. 

Church  Advertising  Pays 
If  obdurate  trustees  or  official  board  members 
insist  that  money  given  to  church  must  not  be  used 
to  get  more  church  attendants  in  the  home  town, 
present  a  little  of  the  following  evidence,  a  few  of 
many  examples: 

An  Illinois  town  decided  to  raise  money  for  a  new 


120  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

church.  The  organizer  who  was  called  included 
advertising  in  his  plan,  but  was  rebuffed.  Finally 
consent  was  gained  for  one  advertisement,  then  for 
another.  The  second  day  the  editor  of  the  paper  met 
with  the  committee  and  confessed  that  he  had  never 
been  much  attached  to  the  church  but  that  when  it 
bought  advertising  space  from  him  he  was  interested, 
and  the  facts  presented  made  him  want  to  help  build 
the  new  structure.  He  offered  a  generous  contribu- 
tion. The  advertising  was  continued.  The  amount 
asked  for  the  building  was  oversubscribed.  The 
church  has  kept  up  its  advertising  ever  since. 

A  pastor  in  New  York  State  obtained  a  larger 
appropriation  for  advertising  after  the  trustees  ob- 
served the  way  people  were  stopping  to  look  at  a 
bulletin  board  for  which  they  had  grudgingly  allowed 
fifty  dollars. 

A  secondhand  mimeograph  in  a  church  near  Cleve- 
land helped  to  increase  the  attendance  from  15  to  75 
and  100. 

A  circular  letter  appeal  in  an  Indiana  church 
brought  in  $270  more  than  was  hoped  for  at  a  special 
event. 

A  large  church  in  Tacoma  began  advertising  in 
papers  its  evening  service  at  which  the  attendance 
was  less  than  200.  Soon  the  audience  increased  to 
1000  and  more.  The  average  evening  offering  was 
$10  before  the  advertising  began.  With  the  en* 
larged  crowd  it  grew  to  $50.  The  advertising  cost 
about  $12,  a  net  profit  to  the  church  in  cash  of  $28, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  continuous  contributions  of 


ADVERTISING  RELIGION  IN  PAID  SPACE      121 

those  who  became  regular  contributors  after  joining 
the  church  as  a  result  of  the  Sunday  evening  services. 

A  small  church  in  Wisconsin  spent  $5  for  a  cut  of 
the  chiu-ch  choir  to  use  in  an  advertisement  and  got  a 
crowd  which  left  $15  above  the  usual  average  evening 
offering. 

Trinity  Episcopal  Church,  of  Niles,  Michigan,  for 
several  years  has  used  paid  advertising  of  the  type 
recommended  in  this  book.  The  pastor  says  that 
the  church  had  formerly  used  the  older  type  con- 
taining the  announcement  of  the  next  services  and 
the  theme  of  the  sermon.  "This  type  worked  all 
right  as  giving  valuable  information  to  the  people 
who  intended  to  come  to  church  and  wanted  to  make 
sure  of  the  time  or  the  sermon  they  wished  to  hear," 
he  says,  ''but  these  advertisements  failed  miserably 
in  reaching  the  unchurched."  The  attendance  is 
counted  each  Sunday  and  the  record  of  the  increased 
offerings  shows  that  the  new  advertisements  pay 
many  times  over.  The  church  invests  $4.50  a  week 
for  copy,  ten  inches  on  three  columns  with  plenty  of 
white  space,  so  that  the  advertisement  dominates  the 
page  on  which  it  appears.  The  copy  is  always  con- 
sistent with  the  dignity  of  Christ  and  with  a  universal 
appeal  attempts  to  awaken  curiosity  as  to  what  the 
church  is  hke.  ''Newcomers  are  not  asked  to  con- 
tribute," reads  a  line  in  all  the  advertisements,  which 
the  pastor  says  attracts  attention.  The  text  is 
changed  each  week  but  the  form  and  appearance 
remain  the  same. 

Few  churches  have  failed  to  profit  financially  from  a 


122  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

sane,  continuous  program  of  paid  advertising  adapted 
to  the  community.  They  have  grown,  of  course,  in 
other  ways,  although  those  making  the  most  stable 
growth  have  stuck  close  to  the  gospel  and  have  not 
bought  attendance  by  gifts  of  carnations,  oranges, 
or  other  souvenirs.  Needless  to  say  the  preacher 
must  have  something  to  give  that  is  worth  hearing, 
and  the  whole  service  and  congregation  must  in 
every  particular  back  up  the  advertising.  Testi- 
mony of  the  efficacy  of  advertising  in  raising  money 
for  new  churches,  obtaining  help  for  mission  stations 
on  foreign  fields,  finding  missionaries  for  specific 
points,  raising  money  to  pay  old  debts,  raising  money 
for  college  endowments,  for  the  running  expenses  of 
colleges,  and  hundreds  of  other  examples  might  be 
cited. 

The  best  way  to  finance  the  advertising  is  to  put 
it  in  the  church  budget.  Some  churches  and  federa- 
tions of  churches  have  had  success  in  sohciting  cash 
contributions  from  merchants,  who  in  some  cases  are 
listed  in  the  advertisement  as  paying  for  the  space  in 
that  issue,  or  for  part  of  the  total  space.  Some  per- 
sons question  this  method  of  financing  church  pro- 
motion on  the  ground  that  the  churches  ought  to  pay 
their  own  bills,  getting  the  merchants  into  the  churches 
and  then  soliciting  them  as  church  members  and 
not  as  merchants. 

A  large  amount  of  good  has  been  done,  however, 
by  money  solicited  from  merchants  and  used  for 
religious  advertising  as  a  community  enterprise.  An 
extensive  joint  campaign  of  this  sort  was  that  of  the 


ADVERTISING  RELIGION  IN  PAID  SPACE      123 

Portsmouth,  Ohio,  churches  and  merchants  preced- 
ing Easter,  1921.  With  the  aim  of  $500  fixed,  the 
contributions  to  the  fund  soon  ran  over  $730.     The 


I  of  Mfco  li  coa%  to  tnk  kfid  W  i 


Christianity 
Is  Difficult 


Chesterton,  famous  BritUh  author,  it  louring  America.  He 
says  some  very  true  things: 

"Christianity  has  not  been  tried  and  found  wanting. 
It  hat  been  found  dillicult  and  not  tried." 

Everyone  who  went  to  church  yesterday  found  for  himself, 
the  truth  of  this  statement. 

Christianity  means  a  fight.  It  is  a  fight  by  a  man  for  his  bet- 
ter impulses.  Every  sermon  yesterday,  worthy  the  name,  showed 
you  some  of  the  paths  of  struggle  not  yet  attempted. 

Life  is  a  struggle,  but  the  least  of  the  struggle  is  for  material 
Ifiings.  A  man  may  gain  a  whole  city  but  lose  his  own  soul. 

Church  attendance  helps  us  heep  close  to  our  best  ideals.  It 
aids  when  we  are  templed  to  be  a  little  "sharp"  in  our  business 
practice,  or  to  be  less  than  fair. 

The  churches  of  Portsmouth  call  you  to  high  ideals.  They  u^ 
hold  Jesus  Christ,  the  perfect  man.  Why  should  you  not  serve 
Him,  who  has  promised  to  "give  His  beloved  peace?" 

Determine  now,  to  go  to  church  next  Sunday. 

Portsmouth  Federation  of  Churches 


L^ 


One  of  a  series  of  large  advertisements  by  the  churches  of  Ports- 
mouth, Ohio.  The  space  was  paid  for  by  funds  soUcited  from  mer- 
chants whose  names  appear. 

merchants  the  year  previous  had  raised,  and  the 
churches  had  spent,  $200  on  paid  advertising  before 
Easter,  with  profitable  results.  In  1921  the  adver- 
tisements were  run  for  three  weeks  preceding  Easter 


124  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

and  $410  was  spent.  The  balance  of  the  fund  was 
divided  during  the  rest  of  the  year  and  advertisements 
were  run  every  Saturday.  Preceding  Easter  large 
announcements  were  used  every  morning  and  eve- 
ning in  the  two  local  papers.  Each  advertisement 
was  illustrated,  a  cross  with  a  spray  of  lilies  being 
used  most  of  the  time.  Twenty-five  churches  of 
seven  denominations  cooperated  in  this  effort.  The 
advertisements  urged  church  attendance,  interest  in 
em'rent  evangelistic  services,  and  church  member- 
ship. At  Easter  686  members  joined  twelve  of  the 
cooperating  churches.  The  total  Sunday-school  at- 
tendance on  Easter  was  over  10,000,  although  7500 
of  the  year  before  had  been  a  high-water  mark.  The 
same  results  spiritually  might  have  come  without  the 
advertisements.  There  is  no  way  of  knowing.  They 
created  so  much  talk  about  the  town  that  the  bankers 
asked  to  have  a  special  advertisement  for  which  they 
would  pay.  This  occupied  fifteen  inches  on  five 
columns.     The  bankers  said  over  their  signature: 

'^The  bankers  know  that  the  unseen  forces  of 
life — honesty,  integrity,  fair  dealing — are  stronger 
than  their  steel  doors,  time  locks,  and  brawny 
special  officers. 

^'Honesty,  sense  of  right,  conscience,  religion — 
■  call  it  what  3^ou  will — we  bankers  know  it  exists. 
The  strong  boxes  are  for  the  few  subnormal  men 
who  prove  the  general  rule  of  honesty. 

''Every  banker  in  Portsmouth  knows  that  if 
churches  had  not  been  here  since  the  beginning  of 
the  town,  the  banks  could  not  stay  a  week — would 


ADVERTISING  RELIGION  IN  PAID  SPACE      125 

never  have  been.     Law  and  order  must  precede 
safe  banking.     Churches  induce  law  and  order. 

''We  support  the  churches,  each  banker  and 
employee,  according  to  his  choice,  because  we  want 
Portsmouth  to  grow  and  become  a  better  place  in 
which  to  live  and  raise  a  family.  We  know  that 
along  the  path  of  righteousness  and  this  alone,  lies 
stable,  continuous  prosperity.  We  want  to  put 
our  influence  on  the  side  of  right  every  time. 

'The  bankers  of  this  city  know  that  the  church 
is  the  sole  institution  which  has  for  its  chief  busi- 
ness the  inculcation  of  the  principles  of  honesty 
and  right  dealing. 

"Churches  develop  faith,  and  faith  is  needed 
before  a  man  is  willing  to  risk  his  savings  and  his 
labor  in  a  project  he  hopes  will  mean  much  to  the 
city  and  its  workers. 

"Churches  are  the  ally  of  everything  that  is 
good  and  the  enemy  of  everything  that  is  \vrong. 
The  banks  of  Portsmouth  stand  solidly  beside  the 
churches  on  this  platform. 

"The  banks  and  bankers  of  Portsmouth  cordially 
invite  their  officers  and  employees,  and  every 
citizen  of  this  progressive  city,  to  attend  some 
church  to-morrow.  It  is  the  Sunday  before  Easter, 
Palm  Sunday.  Why  not  accept  this  first  invita- 
tion by  the  banks  of  this  city  to  attend  church? 
Pick  your  church — any  church — but  go.  Be  there 
on  time.  Go  expecting  to  get  some  good  from  it. 
Go  every  Sunday.     You  will  never  regret  it." 

This  type  of  group  advertising  is  spreading.  In 
some  cities  churches  of  one  denomination  pool  their 
advertising  appropriations  for  special  advertisements 


126  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

in  connection  with  a  series  of  simultaneous  evangel- 
istic meetings.  In  other  towns  advertisements  urging 
churchgoing  and  the  observance  of  Christianity  are 
paid  for  by  groups  of  laymen.  All  such  church  ad- 
vertising puts  the  church  before  the  community  in  a 
manner  much  more  befitting  its  importance  than  do 
the  several  small  cards  of  the  individual  churches, 
each  announcing  a  sermon  topic,  as  though  competing 
among  themselves  for  the  churchgoing  people  of  the 
place. 

Through  efforts  stimulated  by  the  Church  Ad- 
vertising Department  of  the  Associated  Advertising 
Clubs  of  the  World,  newspaper  advertising  managers 
are  being  interested  in  the  publication  of  general 
advertisements  urging  church  attendance.  Several 
series  of  such  advertisements  have  been  sold  to  news- 
papers and  used  in  large  space  around  which  the 
announcements  of  individual  churches  are  grouped. 
At  least  fifty  daily  papers  all  over  the  country  used 
such  advertisements  the  first  half  of  1922. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   MECHANICS 
OF  WRITING  ADVERTISEMENTS 

WRITERS  of  connnercial  advertisements  seek  to 
have  their  announcements  seen,  read,  believed, 
and  remembered.  This  means  that  they  must  at- 
tract attention,  obtain  interest,  convince,  and  move 
to  action.  Writers  of  advertisements  for  religious 
institutions  should  seek  the  same  ends,  for  they  are 
based  on  proved  psychological  laws.  The  first  two 
of  these  four  points  relate  to  the  physical  appearance 
of  the  advertisement  and  are  considered  in  this 
chapter.  BeHef  in  an  advertisement,  and  remem- 
brance of  it,  will  depend  largely  upon  the  content  of 
the  announcement.  This  will  be  discussed  in  the 
following  chapter. 

A  prime  consideration  of  all  advertising,  and  a 
matter  which  is  considered  carefully  by  commercial 
advertisers  in  the  light  of  much  data,  is  the  medium 
through  which  the  institution  is  to  advertise.  Shall 
the  announcement  be  in  newspapers,  in  the  street 
cars,  on  billboards,  passed  from  house  to  house,  sent 
by  mail,  or  put  on  the  screen  of  the  local  motion- 
picture  houses? 

It  may  be  wise  for  the  church  or  Sunday  school  to 
adopt  all  of  these  means  in  part.     On  the  other  hand, 

127 


128  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

some  churches  are  so  situated  that  a  few  of  these 
mediums  will  reach  all  the  available  prospects.  The 
Publicity  Committee  will  consider  the  location  of  the 
church,  the  amount  of  money  available,  and  the  sort 
of  ' 'prospects"  it  is  aiming  at,  before  deciding  the 
question  of  medium.  Of  course,  one  would  not  use 
street-car  cards  to  influence  inmates  of  an  orphan 
asylum  to  attend  Sunday  school,  and  it  would  be 
inexpedient  to  use  billboards  on  the  platforms  of 
elevated  railways  of  a  city  if  most  of  the  possible 
attendants  ride  in  automobiles.  In  larger  cities  it 
is  almost  wasteful  for  a  single  church  to  use  adequate 
space  in  a  metropolitan  paper  unless  the  church 
is  so  located  that  most  of  the  readers  can  attend. 
Direct-by-mail  methods  are  perhaps  better  for 
a  majority  of  city  churches.  But  if  all  churches 
of  a  city,  or  those  of  a  denomination,  can  pool  their 
advertising  appropriations  and  advertise  religion 
rather  than  a  particular  service,  the  large  city  dailies 
constitute  the  best  possible  medium.  In  smaller 
cities  because  of  cheaper  rates,  individual  churches 
can  afford  to  use  space  which  endeavors  to  sell  the 
idea  of  churchgoing  and  the  practice  of  Christianity. 
Some  of  the  most  successful  newspaper  campaigns 
for  churches  have  been  conducted  in  towns  of  3000 
to  50,000  population. 

In  selecting  the  mediums  for  the  church  announce- 
ment pick  out  those  which  for  the  least  cost  will  get 
one's  message  to  the  greatest  number  of  persons 
likely  to  be  influenced.  When  there  is  a  choice  of 
newspapers  and  one  wishes  to  reach  nonchurchgoers 


MECHANICS  OF  ADVERTISING 129 

he  will  select  the  paper  read  largely  by  that  class. 
Very  likely  the  publicity  chairman  may  read  another 
paper.  Foreign  language  papers  can  often  be  used 
with  profit  for  Christianity.  In  the  days  of  the 
ancient  Jews  the  gateposts  were  the  most;  prominent 
places  in  a  city  for  an  announcement.  The  writer 
of  Deuteronomy  records  that  the  Jews  were  com- 
manded to  write  upon  their  doorposts  the  reiterated 
command  to  love  Jehovah. 

But  even  after  the  medium  is  selected,  the  ques- 
tion how  to  make  the  advertisement  noticeable  is 
not  easy  to  answer.  The  announcement  of  the 
church  competes  for  the  attention  of  the  reader  with 
scores  of  other  advertisements.  Glance  through  the 
advertising  pages  of  a  popular  magazine.  Some 
advertisements  catch  your  attention.  Others  you 
ignore.  The  writer  must  plan  his  advertisement  so 
that  it  will  get  the  attention  of  the  largest  possible 
percentage  of  readers. 

Laying  down  rules  for  the  writing  of  advertise- 
ments is  a  hazardous  proceeding.  Before  one 
style  of  advertising  has  run  its  course,  another  style 
comes  to  the  front  and  sells  goods  through  the  at- 
tention it  attracts,  and  yet  it  may  be  in  direct  viola- 
tion of  rules  thought  to  be  established  by  experience. 
Master  craftsmen  seem  to  agree,  however,  that  dis- 
play advertisements  or  posters  and  other  printed 
matter  in  which  the  type  may  be  resolved  into  series 
of  rectangles  look  best,  and  consequently  attract 
most  attention.  It  is  also  true  that  advertisements 
which  are  set  in  the  same  family  of  type  look  better 
9 


130  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

than  those  which  permit  a  large  variety  of  type  faces 
to  distract  the  eye. 
With  newspaper  advertising  the  important  ques- 


And  Come  Every  Sunday 

Sunday  is  the  first  Sabbath  of  the 
new  year.  Why  not  start  the  year 
by  worshiping  God  in  a  church — 
the  church  of  your  choice  ?  Regular 
church  attendance  means  bigger 
moral  reserve.  You  can't  get  that 
outside  of  religion.  You  need  the 
church  and  the  church  needs  you. 

Come  hear  an  inspiring  sermon 
Sunday  morning  at  10.30  at  the 
Presbyterian  church,  by  Rev.  J.  J. 
Jones  on    ** SAVED    TO    SERVE.'' 


Special    Service    Sunday    Evening. 


The  simplicity  of  this  design  attracts  attention,  and  the  liberal 
use  of  white  space  on  the  sides  helps  it  stand  out  on  the  newspaper 
page.  Same  family  of  type,  but  of  different  sizes,  is  used  in  this 
advertisement.  Compare  the  text  of  this  advertisement  with  that 
on  page  139.  The  reader  of  this  advertisement  ought  to  get  some- 
thing from  it,  whether  or  not  he  hears  the  sermon. 

Used  by  a  amall  church  in  Michigan 

tion  of  size  of  space  and  frequency  of  the  announce- 
ments must  be  settled.  Most  churches  have  an 
announcement  every  Saturday,  the  space  varying 


MECHANICS  OF  ADVERTISING  131 

from  one  inch  single  column  in  large  cities  to  ten 
inches  on  three  columns  in  smaller  places  where  the 
rate  is  lower.  Elaborate  tests  in  laboratories  seem 
to  indicate  that  a  quarter  page  advertisement  four 
times  repeated  is  remembered  more  often  than  the 
same  matter  made  into  a  full  page  advertisement  and 
run  only  once.  In  the  same  way  an  eighth  of  a  page 
eight  times  repeated  is  better  than  a  full  page  once. 
Advertisements  which  are  placed  in  the  upper  half 
of  a  right-hand  page  seem  also  to  get  most  attention. 
Some  churches  put  their  efforts  to  draw  the  un- 
saved on  the  sporting  page  of  the  paper  and  not  with 
other  church  advertisements.  The  theory  is  that 
they  are  fishing  for  non-churchgoers,  and  these  will 
not  be  likely  to  read  any  part  of  a  church  page. 
Where  many  churches  advertise,  the  effort  to  attract 
attention  to  one  advertisement  is  difficult.  Inas- 
much as  nearly  all  the  advertisers  are  trying  to  per- 
suade people  to  hear  the  same  gospel,  the  author  has 
long  recommended  that  Protestant  churches  pool 
their  appropriations  and  advertise  Christianity  in 
space  large  enough  to  be  effective,  with  small  cards 
giving  the  name,  location,  and  hours  of  service  of  the 
several  church  organizations. 

Layout  Helps  Writer  and  Printer 
If  novices  in  religious  advertising  will  think  of 
their  finished  announcement  as  having  one  or  two 
headlines  to  compel  attention  and  the  body  of  the 
advertisement  to  convince  the  reader,  and  will  put 
this  conception  on  paper  in  the  form  of  a  drawing, 


132  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

they  are  most  likely  to  start  right.  This  making  of 
a  layout  or  plan  of  setting  type  for  the  printer's 
guidance  is  much  more  important  than  appears  on  the 


And  Come   Every  Sunday 


Presbyterian  Church 


A  diagram  of  this  sort,  called  a  "layout,"  will  greatly  help  the 
printer  to  get  your  idea  of  the  manner  of  setting  the  advertisement — 
and  will  help  you  in  framing  the  wording.  A  layout  should  be  made 
for  every  advertisement. 

See  how  this  increased  emphasis  on  the  name  of  the  church  would 
have  improved  the  advertisement  on  page  130. 


surface.  Advertising  agencies  which  spend  even 
small  amounts  of  money  for  their  clients  carefully 
draw  to  scale  the  entire  advertisement,  indicating 
the  exact  sizes  and  kinds  of  type,  and  just  where  each 


MECHANICS  OF  ADVERTISING  133 

subhead  is  to  be  placed.  The  more  accurately  the 
layout  is  drawn,  the  better  the  advertisement  will 
usually  be.  A  rough  sketch  showing  the  relative 
sizes  of  type  and  location  of  the  display  lines  will, 
however,  suffice. 

Plan  carefully  the  nmnber  of  words  you  can  get  in 
the  space  at  your  disposal.  In  one  square  inch  the 
printer  can  set  about  twenty-three  words  of  eight- 
point  type  and  only  sixteen  words  if  in  ten  point. 
This  page  is  set  in  eleven-point  type.  Allow  plenty 
of  margin  in  which  no  type  appears.  Remember 
that  one  chalk  line  on  a  blackboard  attracts  more 
attention  than  a  thousand  lines.  We  make  things 
seen  by  contrast.  White  space  around  the  matter, 
inside  the  bounding  rule,  will  help  the  advertisement 
to  stand  forth  from  a  crowded  newspaper  page.  If 
cuts  are  used,  their  position  must  be  shown. 

Posters  and  Cards 
Printed  posters  and  cards  are  of  interest  to  every 
church  worker.  These  follow  the  same  laws  of  ar- 
rangement as  do  advertisements.  Cards  are  in 
many  cases  merely  small-sized  posters.  Both  should 
follow  the  laws  of  attention  and  interest  which  under- 
Ue  all  efforts  to  persuade  others.  Many  posters  used 
by  churches  are  less  effective  than  they  might  be  on 
account  of  the  fact  that  the  one  who  wrote  the  mate- 
rial failed  to  remember  the  form  in  which  the  matter 
was  to  be  used.  He  wrote  sentences  with  too  many 
words  to  permit  the  printer  to  display  important 
parts  adequately. 


134  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Posters  and  cards,  such  as  are  used  to  announce 
special  meetings  in  church  and  Sunday  school,  can 
well  follow  the  same  form  as  is  suggested  on  page  132 
for  a  display  advertisement  in  a  newspaper.  A  lay- 
out should  be  made,  indicating  just  where  each  line 
of  type  is  to  go.  If  this  layout  is  made  the  same  size 
as  the  poster  is  to  be,  the  author  of  the  matter  will  be 
helped  to  better  results. 

Posters  are  of  many  kinds,  but  those  which  cannot 
use  an  illustration  to  attract  attention  must  have  a 
headline  which  will  catch  the  eye  of  the  hurried 
passer-by.  A  subhead  a  third  of  the  way  down  the 
sheet  and  the  signature  or  other  heavy  line  at  the 
bottom  makes  a  well-balanced  poster.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  attempt  to  put  all  the  facts  in  big  black  type. 
Each  line  when  thus  treated  tends  to  destroy  the 
attention  value  of  every  other  line.  Determine 
what  headline  will  attract  the  attention  of  a  majority 
of  the  people  you  wish  to  reach.  Put  this  in  one  or 
two  lines  at  the  top.  Perhaps  the  place  of  meeting 
can  best  go  across  the  bottom.  The  time,  the  date, 
or  the  name  of  the  speaker  can  be  put  in  the  subhead 
in  black  type.  Extraordinary  skill  is  needed  to  de- 
sign a  type  poster  in  which  all  these  facts  can  be 
displayed  effectively.  Writing  posters  and  cards  is 
from  this  standpoint  a  matter  of  choice  of  the  most 
important  matter  and  courage  to  subordinate  other 
facts  which  the  pubhc  should  know.  Another  law 
which  all  writers  on  typography  recognize  is  the  de- 
sirability of  using  lines  of  capitals  sparingly.  This 
law  is  violated  persistently  in  church  printing. 


MECHANICS  OF  ADVERTISING  135 

EXPERIMENTS  HAVE  SHOWN  THAT  THE 
AVERAGE  MAN  WILL  TAKE  FIVE  TIMES  AS 
LONG  TO  READ  THIS  PARAGRAPH,  SET  IN 
CAPITALS,  AS  TO  READ  THE  SAME  NUMBER 
OF  WORDS  IN  THE  TYPE  USED  FOR  THE 
REST  OF  THE  PAGE.  WHEN  MORE  TIME  IS 
CONSUMED  IN  READING,  AN  EXTRA  EF- 
FORT IS  CAUSED,  AND  THE  ADVERTISE- 
MENT IS  NOT  EASY  TO  READ. 

The  advertisement  must  be  easy  to  read  if  the 
message  of  the  type  is  to  get  into  the  mind  of  the 
greatest  nmnber.  Isn't  this  short  paragraph  a  real 
rehef  to  the  eye,  strained  a  httle  by  the  capitals? 


The  Time  to  Prevent  War 

Is  when  the  seeds  of  war  are  being  sown. 

No    Protestant    pulpit    need    apologize   for  advocating   peace — especially 
among  the  most  Protestant  peoples.     Therefore, 

"  With  malice  toward  none, 

and  with  charity  for  all " 

This  Pulpit,  without  apology,   because  there  are   those  who  urge  and  would 
welcome  such  a  welter  of  blood. 

Protests  Sons  of  Pilgrims  Being  Urged  to  Fight  Sons  of  Puritans 

for  the  sake  of  a  clamorous  minority  that 

Despises  the  Pilgrim  and  Hates  the  Puritan 


After  announcing  his  sermon  theme,  a  pastor  proceeded  with  the 
avv-ful  example  reproduced  above.  With  six  faces  of  type,  it  ilhis- 
trates  what  a  printer  will  often  do  to  an  advertisement  if  it  is  not 
laid  out  carefully  and  display  lines  indicated.  The  bottom  line 
as  displayed  does  not  convey  a  fair  meaning.  Commercial  adver- 
tisements seldom  have  part  of  a  sentence  displayed  and  part  not 
displayed.  The  final  sentence  is  in  eight  lines  and  six  different 
kinds  of  type.  Compare  this  for  style  with  the  advertisement  on 
118. 


136  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Commercial  advertisers  extend  the  influence  of 
this  rule  even  to  the  headings  over  their  advertise- 
ments. In  a  copy  of  The  Saturday  Evening  Post, 
of  eighty-four  headings  over  full-page  announcements, 
only  eight  were  set  in  capitals.  In  Printers'  Ink,  a 
journal  for  advertising  men,  out  of  ninety-nine  page 
advertisements,  only  seven  had  headlines  in  capitals. 
Church  advertisements  can  well  follow  the  advertis- 
ing laws  which  commerce  has  discovered  at  large  cost 
to  itself. 

The  reason  back  of  the  greater  difficulty  in  reading 
capitals  is  that  the  eye  normally  looks  at  about  the 
upper  half  of  letters.  The  additional  lines  of  all 
capital  type  force  the  eye  to  take  in  more  of  the 
actual  letter  than  is  customary.  In  spite  of  this  fact 
most  church  bulletin  boards  appeal  to  passers-by  with 
nothing  but  capitals,  and  even  posters  issued  by 
denominations,  which  ought  to  have  available  the 
experience  of  trained  typographers,  err  in  making 
the  poster  hard  to  read  by  printing  it  entirely  in 
capitals. 

Experiments  have  also  shown  that  the  setting  of  a 
paragraph  or  page  in  italics  produces  a  type  combina- 
tion which  slows  up  the  reader  and  makes  reading  more 
of  a  burden  than  when  roman  type  is  used. 

Both  capitals  and  italics  may  be  used  for  emphasis. 
But  the  caution  should  be  again  set  down  that  the 
man  who  stands  on  the  street  corner  and  yells  will 
get  the  attention  of  the  crowd  for  only  a  short  time. 
As  he  keeps  on  yelling,  the  crowd  wearies  and  no 


MECHANICS  OF  ADVERTISING  137 

attention  is  paid  to  him.  So  with  the  preacher  who 
does  not  modulate  his  voice  or  the  advertisement  set 
all  in  capitals  or  italics. 

Some  zealous  persons  who  think  empha- 
sis is  obtained  only  by  putting  more  ink  on 
a  page  require  frequent  paragraphs  printed 
in  black  face  like  this.  A  line  or  two  of 
black-face  type  used  as  a  subhead  is  in 
keeping  with  its  purpose,  but  to  set  large 
masses  of  reading  matter  in  a  heavy  face  is 
displeasing  to  most  eyes.  This  is  an  effort 
to**yeir'allthetime. 

The  length  of  the  line  is  another  important  factor 
to  be  considered.  Experiments  by  Professor  H.  L. 
HoUingworth,  of  Columbia  University  ('^Advertis- 
ing and  Selling/^  p.  181),  show  that  a  line  of  type 
which  is  three  and  a  half  inches  long  is  the  greatest 
width  which  the  eye  reads  with  ease.  He  says: 
'^Experimental  studies  of  the  way  in  which  the  eye 
behaves  in  reading  show  that  the  whole  line  of  printed 
matter  is  not  seen  at  once  and  as  a  whole  by  the  eye. 
Nor  are  the  separate  letters  each  fixed  in  succession, 
nor  are  the  successive  words  even  examined  one  by 
one.  The  eye  fixates  three  or  four  points  in  reading 
the  fine,  these  points  falHng  where  they  may — now 
in  the  middle  of  a  word,  now  at  the  beginning  or  end, 
now  between  two  words.  When  the  printing  is 
legible  a  given  line  thus  requires  few  movements  for 
the  comprehension  of  the  words — a  few  fixations  will 
cover  the  whole  line.  But  when  the  printing  is 
difficult  to  read  clearly,  the  separate  words  or  letters 


138  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

difficult  to  discriminate  from  each  other,  more  fixa- 
tions are  required,  and  these  extra  fixations  mean 
fatigue.  The  most  comfortable  length  of  line,  for 
ordinary  print,  is  about  three  and  one  half  inches." 

The  effort  you  may  have  made  to  read  some  church 
pubhcations  with  a  line  seven  inches  long  printed  in 
eight-point  type  will  reenforce  the  above  statement. 
Advertisements  to  be  effective  must  be  easy  to  read. 

It  is  a  principle  of  art  that  the  human  eye  is  most 
pleased  with  a  form  which  in  size  is  as  three  is  to  five. 
In  other  words,  an  advertisement  which  is  three 
inches  wide  and  five  inches  high  is  more  often  re- 
membered than  one  which  is  square  or  one  which  is 
wider  than  high.  This  may  not  appeal  to  the  reader 
as  being  true,  but  the  history  of  art  from  Greece  to 
the  present  seems  to  prove  that  the  eye  likes  one 
shape  better  than  others.  Notice  that  books  and 
magazines  with  great  unanimity  conform  rather 
closely  to  this  proportion.  Let  your  advertisement 
do  likewise,  if  you  would  observe  all  the  restrictions 
the  human  mind  places  on  advertisement  writers. 

Pictures  attract  the  eye  of  everyone,  and  ought  to 
be  used  more  largely  in  church  advertising  than  is 
now  generally  the  case.  The  difficulty  is  both  in 
getting  proper  pictures  and  in  obtaining  proper  cuts. 
Half-tone  cuts  can  be  used  in  newspapers  only  if 
made  with  a  coarse  screen.  Many  daily  papers  use 
a  55-line  screen,  while  for  fine  calendared  paper  the 
screen  should  be  150  or  more.  This  means  that 
many  of  the  details  in  a  photograph  are  lost  when  a 
cut  is  made  for  newspaper  use. 


MECHANICS  OF  ADVERTISING 


139 


•  e/^*  e/^*  e/^'  e/^'e/^- 


'^ 


This  Advertise' 
.  ment  Is  a  Direct  i 
^     Invitation  to 

YOU 

to    attend   our  services 
^  to-day. 

?9:45    A.    M 
J      school. 

11  A.  M.— Dr.  John  L. 
Jones,  pastor,  will  have 
for  his  subject 

''The 
Constancy 

of  the  ^i 

Eternal  ^ 


Sunday 


^1 

7:45  p.   m. — A   15-min- 
^      ute  pipe  organ  recital . -^^ 
by     Prof.     Benjamin  fej^ 
Johnson.  ^^• 

8  p.   m.— Topic:    ''The  ^ 
Joy  of  Service."  \^ 

First  Presby-        t 
I      terian  Churchf^^ 

^  Corner  4th  and  Cedar  ^i^ 


The  wide  border  detracts  from  the  message,  and  the  variety  of  type 
used  makes  this  less  attractive  to  many  persons  than  the  advertise- 
ment on  page  130. 


140  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

In  planning  the  layout,  do  not  hesitate  to  leave  a 
proper  amount  of  white  space,  but  use  it,  for  the  most 
part,  in  concentrated  spots.  Do  not  permit  the 
printer  to  use  it  all  between  the  lines  of  type  by  '^ lead- 
ing out"  to  fill  the  space. 

When  the  matter  is  set  solid,  like  this,  more  words 
can  be  put  on  the  page  by  twenty  per  cent,  but  the 
matter  is  not  so  easy  to  read.  Advertising  authorities 
recommend  that  advertisements  be  set  in  type  not 
smaller  than  ten  point,  leaded,  although  mail  order 
concerns  can  rise  and  testify  that  their  announce- 
ments pull  thousands  of  orders  when  set  in  solid  eight 
point  or  smaller. 

Type  can,  on  the  other  hand, 
be  too  large  for  the  space  in 
which  it  is  intended  to  be  used. 
In  order  easily  to  read  these  lines 
you  must  readjust  the  focus  of 
your  eyes. 

There  is  a  real  relief  to  come  again  to  the  type  to 
which  you  have  been  accustomed  in  reading  this 
chapter. 

Lest  the  inexperienced  advertisement  writer  be- 
come discouraged  at  the  apparent  multiplicity  of 
things  to  be  remembered  in  writing  religious  adver- 
tisements, it  should  be  recalled  that  in  printing  ad- 
vertisements one  is  attempting  to  set  in  motion 
forces  designed  to  accomplish  the  same  result  sought 


MECHANICS  OF  ADVERTISING  141 

by  the  preacher  who  has  spent  three  years  in  a  sem- 
inary. Advertisement- writing  is  a  profession  in  itself. 
This  book  is  an  attempt  to  show  ministers  and  church 
w^orkers  a  few  of  the  principles  needed  in  planning 
advertisements.  Commercial  concerns  have  wasted 
large  sums  because  of  inexperienced  effort  in  writing 
advertisements.  Churches  have  done  the  same  by 
using  advertisements  which  are  poorly  designed,  and 
therefore  less  effective  than  they  should  have  been 
for  the  amount  of  money  expended. 

Many  of  these  suggestions  may  seem  unimportant, 
but  all  are  part  of  the  effort  which  must  be  taken  to 
make  the  most  effective  advertisement.  Commer- 
cial concerns  employ  high-salaried  men  to  make  sure 
that  the  announcements  on  which  they  spend  thou- 
sands of  dollars  conform  to  all  known  laws  of  the 
mind.  Noncommercial  institutions  may  ignore  the 
laws  of  good  typography  at  the  expense  of  getting  less 
than  the  best  results. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  CONTENT 
OF  THE  CHURCH  ADVERTISEMENT 

TO  make  the  advertisement  of  a  church  beUeved 
and  remembered  is  perhaps  not  so  difficult  as  to 
have  it  seen  and  read.  In  the  preceding  chapter  we 
have  considered  some  of  the  mechanical  means  of 
having  a  church  advertisement  seen  and  read.  But 
perhaps  the  most  important  element  in  gaining  the 
attention  and  interest  of  those  whom  we  wish  to 
attend  church  is  the  headline  and  the  first  few  words 
of  text.  People  who  seldom  go  to  church  have 
hardened  their  hearts  and  will  quickly  turn  from 
any  announcement  sent  out  by  a  religious  organiza- 
tion. But  these  are  the  people  we  seek  to  persuade. 
Writing  church  advertising  is  not  a  task  to  be 
undertaken  lightly.  Commercial  enterprises  pay 
large  sums  to  men  who  have  the  experience  and  train- 
ing which  enables  them  to  arrange  words  which  will 
compel  attention  and  interest  for  the  message  they 
have  for  the  world.  Copy  writers  get  as  large  salaries 
as  any  producers  of  written  material.  The  man  who 
with  a  series  of  advertisements  of  ten  or  twelve  words 
can  throw  a  glamour  around  artificial  pearls  so  that 
people  will  gladly  pay  large  sums  for  the  satisfaction 
of  wearing  them  can  well  be  paid  $100  for  each  ad- 
vertisement.    The  preacher  who  will  have  an  audi- 

142 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT  143 

ence  of  4000  may  be  paid  upwards  of  $10,000  a  year, 
yet  the  advertisement  of  the  church  in  a  paper  with 
only  1000  circulation  has  good  chance  of  being  read 
by  4000  persons. 

Some  pastors  assume  that  because  they  can  write 
a  good  sermon,  they  can  easily  write  an  advertisement, 
and  they  dash  off  something  half  an  hour  before  the 
paper  must  have  it.  Or  the  chairman  of  the  Public- 
ity Committee,  having  been  instructed  to  write 
something  for  the  space  in  the  paper,  puts  down 
^'Attention."  That  is  what  he  wants,  why  not  shout 
for  it  at  once?  Then  in  a  style  which  is  a  cross  be- 
tween a  herald  of  old  and  a  modern  preacher  he  fills 
the  space.  Because  some  one  tells  him  that  he  has 
seen  his  advertisement  in  the  paper,  he  pats  himself  on 
the  back  and  does  the  same  hurried  thing  next 
week.  Let  the  writing  of  church  copy  be  approached 
prayerfully.  There  is  tremendous  opportunity  for 
good  involved. 

Through  the  headline  of  the  advertisement  the 
chiu-ch  must  make  the  point  of  contact  with  the  pros- 
pective church  attendant.  Obviously  the  label 
''First  Methodist  Church"  as  a  heading  will  not 
go  far  toward  inducing  nonchurchgoers  to  read  the 
advertisement.  Indeed,  this  heading  will  tend  to 
drive  away  all  but  those  who  are  looking  for  the  an- 
nouncement of  that  church. 

It  is  assumed  that  the  church  which  is  content  to 
use  paid  space  in  which  to  announce  the  theme  of  its 
services  and  nothing  else  is  not  interested  in  these 
chapters.     Not  all  the  money  spent  by  churches  for 


144  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

the  mere  announcement  of  the  topic  of  sermons  is 
wasted,  but  the  opportunity  for  so  much  more  effec- 
tive use  of  the  space  is  such  that  one  is  tempted  to 
condemn  severely  the  announcement  type  of  church 
advertisement.  Some  churches  send  to  the  church 
editor  the  themes  of  the  sermons  and  put  the  same 
information  in  the  paid  advertisement  which  appears 
on  the  same  page.  The  pubHcation  of  a  Bible  verse 
in  the  paid  space  would  further  Christianity  more. 
This  chapter  is  concerned  with  a  diligent  effort  to 
turn  the  attention  of  nonchurchgoers  to  Christian- 
ity through  paid  newspaper  space.  This  at  once 
rules  out  the  mass  of  advertisements  which  consist 
of  the  name  of  the  church  and  pastor  with  merely 
the  topic  of  the  sermon. 

Such  advertisements  may  be  raised  to  a  higher  level, 
where  they  will  give  the  reader  something  constructive 
to  think  about,  by  the  addition  of  only  a  line  or  two. 
See  the  illustration  on  page  146.  The  money  given 
the  church  for  propagating  the  faith  should  be  used 
not  so  much  to  inform  the  regular  attendants,  who 
will  come  without  an  advertisement,  as  to  reach  out 
after  those  who  go  nowhere  to  church  and  endeavor 
to  give  something  of  the  gospel  and  invite  them  to 
certain  services,  the  themes  of  which  can  with  pro- 
priety be  announced  as  an  incident.  We  should  seek 
to  get  people  to  church  because  they  desire  to  wor- 
ship God,  not  because  the  preacher  is  to  speak  on  a 
certain  theme.  Some  pastors  never  announce  the 
topics  of  their  sermons. 

The  type  of  advertising  considered  here  needs  more 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT  145 


Blue  and  Discouraged? 

There  are  many  men  and  women  in  this  town  whom  life 
apparently  has  treated  unkindly.  Without  true  friends 
they  struggle  against  odds. 

Yet  the  church  around  the  corner  is  full  of  men  and 
women  anxious  to  help. 

Christianity  Means  Helpfulness 

Meet  these  church  people  half  way.  Give  them  an  op- 
portunity to  be  your  friends.  "Come  unto  me  .  .  . 
and  I  will  give  you  rest."  Thus  directed  the  founder  of 
Christianity.  His  promise  stands  to-day.  Test  it. 
Crosses  which  arise  m  business,  in  school,  in  the  home 
are  more  easily  borne  if  one  has  accepted  the  assurance 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  ever  ready  to  help. 

METHODIST   CHURCH 


An  endeavor  to  show  that  the  church  gives  comfort  in  time 
of  trouble.  The  time  of  service  and  topic  of  sermon  could  also  be 
added  to  advantage. 

Issued  by  Western  Newspaper  Union 


10 


146  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

thought  than  the  mere  announcement  of  sermon 
topics,  and  the  headline  is  the  element  on  which  the 
success  of  the  entire  advertisement  hangs.  If  hasty- 
readers  are  not  caught  by  the  headline  they  are  not 
reached  by  the  advertisement. 

Any  advertisement  is,  however,  a  good  advertise- 
ment if  it  gets  the  results  sought.  This  ought  to  be 
remembered  in  connection  with  all  comments  in  this 
book  on  church  announcements.     Unfortunately  we 


Are  You  a  Drifter? 

Some  men  float  with  the  moral  current  and  seldom 
give  their  conscience  a  chance.  Come  Sunday  night  and 
see  motion  pictures,  "  The  Prodigal, "  story  of  a  boy  who 
left  mother  and  home.  Also  a  scenic,  "  Tropical  Gems  of 
Florida,'' 

At  11  o'clock,  "The  Greatest  Thing  in  the  World"  will 
be  the  message.     Sunday  School  at  9.45  A.  M. 

A  Church  of  Friendliness -Grey  stone 


Here  is  a  good  headline  over  a  compact  advertisement  used  in  small 
space  in  Elizabeth,  New  Jersey. 

have  no  body  of  data  concerning  the  effectiveness  of 
various  types  of  church  advertisements.  The  best 
we  can  do  is  to  follow  as  closely  as  possible  the  rules 
found  successful  by  commercial  advertisers. 

Business  seeks  to  have  a  head  rather  than  a  label — 
and  it  is  usually  set  in  lower  case.  The  best  adver- 
tisement writers  go  back  to  newspaper  headline 
practice.  It  is  required  that  a  good  newspaper  head 
have  in  it  a  verb  in  the  active  tense,  that 'the  words 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT 147 

be  short  rather  than  long,  that  they  tell  the  story  and 
do  it  in  more  than  a  commonplace  manner.  The 
head  over  a  news  story  really  sells  the  story  to  the 
readers,  or  it  doesn't.  In  the  same  way  the  head  over 
an  advertisement  attracts  readers  to  the  body  of  the 
announcement,  or  it  does  not,  and  the  reader  skims 
to  the  next  page.  All  the  effort  spent  on  the  copy, 
and  the  money  for  its  insertion,  is  then  lost. 

Study  of  commercial  advertisements  also  shows 
that  usually  the  head  hnks  directly  with  the  product 
advertised.  Test  this  statement  with  any  current 
popular  magazine.  Commerce  does  not  label  its 
advertisements  ^'Attention,"  ^Tisten,"  or  ''Stop," 
but  uses  more  adroit  means  of  making  a  statement 
which  will  of  itself  get  the  attention  and  lead  to 
interest. 

Each  advertisement  competes  with  every  other 
advertisement  with  the  reader's  interest  in  other 
things.  The  heading  therefore  must  be  more  than 
commonplace.  The  amateur  may  think  by  this  that 
some  bizarre  thing  is  meant.  In  some  cases  the 
heading  will  verge  on  the  sensational,  but  always  it 
must  be  in  keeping  with  the  thing  advertised.  The 
better  than  commonplace  way  of  doing  things  can 
be  illustrated  by  this  want  advertisement  from  the 
New  York  Times : 

THE  dear  folks  have  raised  my  rent;  I  need  some- 
thing to  buy  magazines  with.  If  you  are  a  private 
family,  no  roomers,  will  give  a  Christian  a  pleasant 
room  with  modern  furniture,  including  a  bookcase, 
for  $35  month  or  less  (more  if  I  must),  write  descrip- 
tion of  room  to  H  314  Times.  When  home  I  read 
or  sleep — both  quietly. 

This  has  a  quality  which  cannot  be  put  in  words. 


148  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

But  because  it  is  indefinable,  it  should  be  the  more 
sought.  It  is  the  element  which  will  get  your  ad- 
vertisement read  and  remembered  when  others  are 
passed  by. 

An  advertisement  must  not,  however,  exist  for  its 
own  cleverness.  Some  lecturers  and  preachers  are 
said  to  draw  more  attention  to  themselves  than  to 
their  message.  So  it  is  with  some  advertisements. 
Say  what  you  have  to  say  in  a  manner  which  will 
interest  others.  But  such  advertisements  as  are 
headed  by  a  cut  of  a  bear  followed  by  the  words  ''in 
mind"  are  not  worthy  of  use  in  religious  advertising. 
They  were  discarded  by  commerce  generations  ago. 
They  may  get  a  crowd  once  or  twice,  but  are  not 
built  on  a  lasting  foundation.  Keep  in  sight  what 
you  have  for  sale :  the  outworking  of  the  spirit  of  the 
church  in  the  individual  and  the  community. 

Church  advertisements  above  all  others  must  be 
believed.  Any  false  note  will  mar  the  announce- 
ment. There  must  be  integrity  expressed  through 
and  through.'  For  this  reason  many  enthusiasts  in 
church  advertising  are  convinced  that  advertise- 
ments for  Christianity  cannot  be  successfully  written 
by  men  who  do  not  themselves  practice  what  they 
are  preaching. 

To  Make  Advertisements  Remembered 

The  second  principle  mentioned  at  the  head  of  this 

chapter  specifies  that  the  successful  advertisement 

must  be  remembered.     Little  use  to  have  had  the 

advertisement  read  if  it  is  to  pass  from  memory  at 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT  149 

once.  Here  again  we  can  call  on  the  investigators 
in  many  psychological  laboratories  for  the  laws  of 
memory  and  apply  them  to  church  advertising. 

Applicable  laws  are  repetition,  intensity,  associa- 
tion, and  ingenuity.  We  eat  Uneeda  biscuit  be- 
cause we  are  commanded  to  do  so  at  every  turn. 
Repetition  fixes  the  name  in  mind.  Let  the  name  of 
your  church  or  Sunday  school  in  the  same  manner 
be  fixed  in  the  minds  of  possible  attendants  and  mem- 
bers. The  same  copy  should  not  be  used,  however, 
in  successive  issues.  An  advertising  campaign  of 
two  or  three  weeks  is  usually  of  small  value.  With 
rehgious  advertisements  we  are  trying  to  change  the 
habits  of  perhaps  a  lifetime.  This  cannot  be  accom- 
phshed  in  a  brief  period.  When  an  advertising  cam- 
paign is  planned,  do  not  begin  until  you  can  continue 
six  months  or  a  year,  or  begin  with  firm  faith  that 
results  during  the  first  few  months  will  influence  the 
holders  of  the  moneybags  to  be  generous. 

Intensity  of  impression  depends  on  the  skill  with 
which  the  advertisement  is  written  and  the  appeal  it 
makes  to  the  reader.  Of  course  in  this  every  ad- 
vertisement will  vary.  Some  men  will  be  caught  by 
one  illustration,  and  some  by  another.  The  intensity 
can  be  increased,  however,  by  making  a  message 
the  focal  point  of  many  forms  of  appeal.  If  a  man 
reads  in  his  evening  paper  an  appeal  to  use  the 
Golden  Rule  in  business,  sees  it  again  on  the  motion- 
picture  screen  that  night,  reads  it  in  the  street  car 
on  his  way  to  work,  and  gets  a  letter  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, he  is  Ukely  to  pay  more  attention  than  if  only  one 


150  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

of  these  mediums  were  used.  The  suburban  elders  who 
divided  their  congregation  into  sections  and  assigned 
each  ''prospect"  to  six  men,  one  of  whom  made  it  his 
business  to  ride  to  the  city  with  him  each  morning, 
understood  this  system.  The  constant  pounding  by 
different  voices,  by  different  mediums,  wears  away 
the  most  stony  resistance  to  the  message  of  the  gospeL 

The  law  of  association  is  common.  Study  the 
association  this  advertisement  recalls  to  you:  ''Your 
dear  old  mother  prayed  that  you  would  always  go  to 
church."  Is  not  this  a  more  potent  appeal  to  attend 
divine  worship  than  the  bald  "Goto  Church  Sunday"? 
The  latter,  however,  has  its  uses.  The  former  recalls 
associations  of  home  and  mother  and  early  prayers, 
the  influence  of  which  is  added  to  the  invitation 
signed  by  all  the  churches  in  town.  "Yes,  my 
mother  taught  me  to  pray,"  was  the  heading  of 
another  church  advertisement  designed  to  bring 
back  childhood  memories.  The  law  of  association  is 
highly  important  in  all  rehgious  advertising. 

Put  a  smile  into  your  advertisement  and  a  cordial 
handshake.  Make  the  reader  feel  that  there  is  a 
red-blooded  man  back  of  it.  Let  the  sentences  be 
clear,  not  involved,  not  too  long.  Avoid  form  and 
expression  not  in  keeping  with  the  church.  Anglo- 
Saxon  words  are  better  than  Latin  derivatives.  Let 
the  writer  remember  that  he  is  talking  to  John  Smith 
who  sometimes  drops  into  a  back  pew,  and  not  to 
brother  ministers.  His  thinking  and  his  expression 
must  be  in  terms  which  the  average  man  can  absorb 
without  effort.     Did  you  ever  hear  people  say  that 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT 151 

they  get  more  out  of  a  good  children's  sermon  than 
from  the  main  discourse? 

Before  copy  is  prepared,  it  would  be  well  to  inquire 
the  cost  of  the  space  projected.     Advertising  rates 

lllliiil 


WHAT  WE  DO 

Is  the  Church  practical?  What  is  it  doing?  Read 
the  story  of  this  ad  told  week  by  week.  Helping  sick 
folk  is  practical. 

77  hospitals  and  98  dispensaries  in  9  counties. 

350,284  patients  treated.     664,029  out-patients. 

36  Chinese  dispensaries  treated  565,300  persons. 

6  hospitals  working  in  war-stricken  Persia. 
Through  our  benevolent  budget  you  may  minister 
in  Christ's  name. 

PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Main  Street 


II 

This  illustrates  a  type  of  informational  advertising  that  is  beneficial 
to  Church  members  and  those  outside  the  Church.  This  might  have 
been  improved  by  the  addition  of  an  invitation  to  attend  church 
next  Sunday  at  11.     Used  in  Mitchell,  Indiana. 

are  based  on  so  much  an  inch  or  a  line.  There  are 
fourteen  ''lines''  (agate,  a  size  of  type  equivalent  to 
53/2  point)  to  the  inch,  which  means  an  inch  high 
and  a  column  wide.  If  the  rate  is  40  cents  an  inch 
and  the  advertisement  is  planned  for  seven  inches  on 


152  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

two  columns,  the  cost  will  be  40  times  14,  or  $5.60 
for  one  issue  to  reach  the  thousands  on  the  sub- 
scription hst.  The  rate  for  a  page  in  The  Ladies' 
Home  Journal  is  $15,000  for  an  issue.  To  this  cost 
must  be  added  the  expense  of  making  drawings  and 
plates,  which  often  amounts  to  $400  or  more  in  addi- 
tion. Business  concerns  often  spend  $300,000  a  year 
on  one  pubhcation  alone.  The  church  should  not  be 
extravagant,  but  neither  should  its  visions  of  possi- 
bilities be  cramped. 

Question  of  Appeal  Important 
The  question  of  the  appeal  to  be  made  must  be 
considered  before  a  worthy  advertisement  is  com- 
posed. Psychologists  say  that  suggestion  is  more 
potent  as  a  moving  force  than  argument.  Everyone 
also  knows  that  habits  are  powerful  things  in  men's 
lives.  If  church  advertisements  can  strengthen  good 
habits  or  help  people  to  form  new  habits  which  will 
buttress  their  character,  much  good  has  been  done. 
It  is  also  known  that  the  parental  instinct  is  powerful. 
An  appeal  to  that  has  fair  possibility  of  success. 

Commerce  is  vitally  interested  in  this  question  of 
appeal.  S.  Roland  Hall  says  in  ^'Writing  an  Adver- 
tisement": 

"The  Curtis  Publishing  Company  says  frankly 
that  it  spent  thousands  of  dollars  and  years  of 
effort  before  finding  out  that  the  appeal  to  boys  to 
earn  money  was  not  the  most  powerful  point  of 
contact  in  securing  agents  for  The  Saturday  Even- 
ing Post.     The  most  successful  appeal  was  that  to 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT  153 

the  parents  to  start  the  boy  in  work  that  would 
give  him  something  useful  to  do  and  develop  his 
character. 

"A  good  example  of  how  an  effective  appeal  may 
be  brought  to  hght  through  study  of  the  uses  of  serv- 
ice of  the  article  is  afforded  by  a  series  of  adver- 
tisements of  the  New  International  Encyclopedia. 
The  books  themselves  do  not  constitute  the  main 
appeal.  The  scene  was  shown  in  which  an  ambi- 
tious office  employee  is  depicted  in  the  act  of  giving 
his  elders  some  unusual  information  they  wanted. 
The  keynote  of  the  advertisement  was  The  Man 
Who  Knows.  Instead  of  featuring  the  set  of 
volumes  as  a  desirable  pm-chase,  the  writer  of  the 
advertisement  very  skillfully  brought  out  the 
suggestion  that  the  man  who  keeps  storing  his 
mind  with  useful  information  is  likely  to  win  posi- 
tion and  power.  The  International  Correspond- 
ence Schools'  advertising  is  of  this  kind.  They 
do  not  advertise  Study  Courses  for  Sale.  They 
realize  that  the  idea  of  study  is  attractive  to  only 
a  few,  that  the  thing  they  must  play  up  is  the 
benefit  of  study,  the  rewards  that  technical  knowl- 
edge will  bring  the  possessor." 

Keen  business  men  know  that  people  do  not  buy 
high-priced  articles  for  the  sake  of  the  goods  them- 
selves so  much  as  for  the  sense  of  satisfaction  in 
possession.  The  person  who  pays  several  thousand 
dollars  for  an  Oriental  rug  buys  it  as  much  for  the 
story  which  goes  with  the  rug  and  the  satisfaction 
he  will  get  from  telling  that  story  to  visitors,  as  for 
the  article  itself.  A  man  will  pay  two  dollars  for  a 
tie  rather  than  one  dollar,  not  because  the  higher- 


154  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

priced  cravat  will  wear  longer,  but  because  he  will 
get  additional  satisfaction  from  the  more  delicate 
combination  of  colors  in  the  two  dollar  article.  It 
is  the  intangible  thing,  ''satisfaction,"  which  he  pur- 
chases. 

It  was  knowledge  of  this  law  which  led  one  pastor 
to  advertise  on  the  bulletin  board  in  front  of  his 
church,  ''Sensible  persons  go  to  church  twice  on  Sun- 
day— do  you?"  People  like  the  satisfaction  of  being 
counted  sensible,  even  in  their  subconscious  minds. 
(Skeath,  "Building  the  Congregation,"  p.  46.)  In 
the  same  way  another  powerful  motive  was  touched 
in  this  advertisement:  "That  family  of  yours  deserves 
the  very  best  you  have.  Give  them  the  best  you  can, 
the  heritage  of  a  good  name.  You  will  find  our  serv- 
ices very  helpful  in  securing  that  character  which 
must  be  back  of  every  good  name.  Let  us  help  you 
through  oiu-  services  on  Sunday." 

What  the  headlines  shall  be,  of  course,  will  be 
governed  largely  by  the  subject  matter  of  the  an- 
nouncement, and  the  same  rule  applies  to  the  writing 
of  posters.  Here  are  the  headings  over  a  number  of 
the  advertisements  used  in  the  union  effort  of  all  the 
churches  of  Portsmouth,  Ohio : 

Moral  Forces  Alone  Are  Permanent 

Listen  to  Roosevelt 

Pizarro's  Line  in  the  Sand 

Christianity  Is  Difficult 

Why  the  Bankers  of  Portsmouth  Support  the 
Churches 

"Central,  Please?"  (Addressed  to  telephone  oper- 
ators) 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT  155 

Savorless  Salt 

Christianity  Is  the  Great  Adventure 

Chemistry  and  Christianity  (Addressed  to  doctors 

and  druggists) 
After  Lent  Is  Over 
What  Do  You  Do  with  Your  Time? 
Your  Spiritual  Income  Blank 
Easter  Means  New  Life  and  Hope 

The  series  of  advertisements  issued  in  plated  form 
by  the  Western  Newspaper  Union  and  published  for 
the  most  part  by  individual  churches  in  small  towns 
of  the  country  used  these  headUnes: 

The  Way  to  Happiness 

A  Town's  SoHd  Citizens 

Blue  and  Discouraged? 

Golf  or  a  Sermon? 

No  One  Is  Perfect 

Turn  on  to  the  Road  to  Church 

What  Does  Your  Family  Think  of  You? 

Aid  the  Preacher 

Pictures  are  highly  desirable  in  all  church  adver- 
tising, but  pictures  are  difficult  to  obtain.  Photo- 
graphs of  religious  masterpieces  can  be  made  into 
cuts,  and  a  few  concerns  offer  for  sale  half-tones  of 
such  subjects.  Some  denominations  also  have  the 
beginnings  of  a  helpful  cut  service.  Because  the 
'^commodities''  offered  the  pubhc  in  rehgious  adver- 
tisements are  rather  intangible  from  a  pictorial 
standpoint,  the  choice  of  subjects  is  Hmited.  For 
two  dollars  to  three  dollars  small  zinc  etchings  can 
be  obtained  of  drawings  in  ink  made  by  the  Pub- 
licity Committee  of  a  church  or  Sunday  school,  but 


156   CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

unless  these  are  well  done  their  use  does  not  add  to 
the  attractiveness  of  the  church  announcements. 
This  field  has  not  been  much  entered  by  artists 
largely,  perhaps,  because  the  churches  have  not  felt 
that  they  could  afford  to  buy  well-executed  drawings. 
It  may  be  typical  of  the  age  that  the  best  artists  in 
these  days  are  employed  in  displaying  attractively  a 
new  design  in  silverware,  silk  stockings,  or  auto- 
mobiles, rather  than  the  incidents  relating  to  Christ 
which  occupied  the  artists  of  early  days.  An  in- 
creasing demand  for  cuts  for  posters,  cards,  and 
newspaper  advertisements  will  eventually  produce 
the  cuts. 

The  cut  of  the  church  tower  often  is  used  as  a  trade- 
mark and  sometimes  a  cut  of  the  entire  church  is 
used,  although  this  occupies  a  good  deal  of  space.  A 
Methodist  church  in  Minneapolis  used  a  picture  of 
the  church  at  night,  the  pastor  saying  that  most  per- 
sons know  his  church  with  the  light  streaming  from 
door  and  window,  rather  than  when  the  sun  is  shin- 
ing. Some  pastors  use  a  cut  of  themselves,  but  this 
seems  to  savor  too  much  of  an  effort  to  '^sell"  the 
man  than  his  message,  although  Douglas  and  Mennen 
and  Smith  sell  shoes,  talcum  powder,  and  cough  drops 
that  way.  The  pictures  of  these  merchants,  how- 
ever, are  often  used  in  advertisements  in  connection 
with  other  illustrations. 

The  design  on  page  157  makes  the  advertisement  stand  out,  but 
the  copy  is  open  to  the  objection  that  it  is  not  constructive  or  educa- 
tional. It  merely  announces  services  for  one  day.  The  signature 
might  have  been  smaller,  the  decorations  at  the  top  eliminated,  and 
a  verse  of  Scripture  substituted. 


1821  1921 

Centennial  Week 


SUNDAY,  FEBRUARY  20 

The  Final  Day  of  a  Great  Week 

10.30  A.  M. — Sermon,  "Henceforth*' 

Mr.  Clausen 

3.  P.  M.— Jubilee  Baptismal  Service 

7.30  P.  M "SUbat  fWaler" 

(Rossini) 

Vested  Choir  Directed  by 
Prof.  Howard  Lyman 


BERNARD  C.  CLAUSEN,  MINISTER 
On  the  Courthouse  Circle 


baptist 

167 


158   CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

How  TO  Use  Paid  Space  for  Sunday  Schools 

Paid  advertising  for  Sunday  schools  has  been 
growing  in  volume.  The  enthusiasm  of  business 
men  who  know  the  value  of  newspaper  advertising 
has  been  responsible  for  much  of  the  large-sized  copy 
used  to  promote  adult  Bible  classes,  especially  when 
an  effort  has  been  made  to  increase  attendance 
through  a  contest  or  other  feature. 

The  International  Sunday  School  Association  has 
stimulated  the  use  of  paid  space,  especially  in  con- 
nection with  Go-to-Sunday-School  Day  in  the  fall, 
through  the  circulation  of  sample  advertisements  and 
suggestions  of  ways  in  which  local  newspapers  can 
be  utilized  to  attract  people  to  study  the  Bible. 

Churches  of  any  community  are  in  the  habit  of 
working  together  on  Sunday-school  problems,  so 
that  union  advertisements  for  Sunday  schools  de- 
velop rather  naturally.  The  Sunday  school  is  common 
to  every  Protestant  church.  The  courses  of  study 
are  more  or  less  similar,  the  objects  of  the  school  the 
same,  the  standards  and  goals  are  identical  for  thou- 
sands of  organizations.  If  some  one  can  be  found  to 
write  the  copy  and  pay  for  the  space,  Sunday-school 
advertising  has  a  favorable  opportunity  for  develop- 
ment. 

One  of  the  best  illustrations  of  the  use  of  paid  space 
for  Sunday  schools  is  that  afforded  by  the  consider- 
able series  of  advertisements  used  in  the  weekly  at 
Martinsville,  Indiana.  One  such  advertisement 
read: 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT  159 


MARTINSVILLE'S  BEST  PAYING  INSTITUTIONS 

Martinsville's  Sunday  schools  are  by  far  its  best 
paying  and  most  profitable  institutions.  They  have 
never  received  a  penny  of  tax  money,  nor  have  they 
ever  asked  the  pubUc  for  a  dollar ;  yet  there  are  no  other 
institutions  in  our  city  which  yearly  return  larger 
dividends.  And  this  helpful  work  they  cheerfully  do 
without  asking  any  other  reward  than  the  chance  to 
serve.  However,  only  about  one  in  five  of  our  popula- 
tion are  members  of  any  Sunday  school. 

IS  YOUR  FAMILY  RECEIVING 
ITS  FULL  SHARE  OF  PROFITS 
FROM  THE  SUNDAY  SCHOOL? 

The  Sunday  schools  are  not  free  because  they  are 
cheap.  They  are  free  because  they  are  priceless.  No 
parent,  however  rich,  can  ever  buy  for  his  child  the 
benefits  and  blessings  which  the  Sunday  school  freely 
gives.  God's  best  gifts  are  always  above  price  and  the 
Sunday  school  is  among  God's  very  best  gifts  to  man. 
Those  children  who  from  childhood  enjoy  the  rich 
benefits  of  the  Sunday  school  will  in  their  maturity 
and  old  age  rise  up  and  call  their  parents  blessed  for 
leading  them  in  this  way. 

Co  to  Sunday  School  To-Morrow 


This  was  one  of  a  number  of  advertisements  vn-itten 
by  a  local  pastor.  It  occupied  eight  inches  on  three 
columns,  and  was  paid  for  by  the  owner  of  one  of  the 
factories  in  the  town  who  desired  thus  to  make  a  con- 
tribution to  the  moral  uplift  of  the  community.  It 
gives  an  idea  of  the  usefulness  of  display  advertising 
for  religious  institutions  which  the  author  hopes  will 
permeate  the  thought  of  many  men  of  large  means. 


160  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Another  type  of  Sunday-school  advertising  has 
been  developed  most  largely  in  Oakland,  California, 
where  the  Tribune  has  solicited  the  cards  of  Sunday 
schools  of  various  denominations,  all  of  which  occupy 
small  space  under  a  well-displayed  announcement 
similar  to  the  following: 

''Talk  about  the  questions  of  the  time;  there  is 
but  one  question — how  to  bring  the  truths  of  God's 
Word  into  vital  contact  with  the  minds  and  hearts 
of  all  classes  of  people." — WiUiam  E.  Gladstone. 

Is  your  child  in  Sunday  school?  If  not,  why 
not  send  him  to-morrow? 

This  idea  can  be  utilized  in  many  towns.  The 
initiative,  however,  must  be  taken  by  some  one  con- 
nected with  the  advertising  department  of  a  news- 
paper or  by  some  central  organization,  such  as  the 
city  or  county  Sunday-school  organization. 

Unless  some  type  of  united  effort  is  thus  made  by 
all  the  churches  of  the  community,  perhaps  the  best 
plan  for  advertising  a  particular  school  is  to  stress 
the  advantage  of  Bible  study  and  fellowship  found 
in  the  Bible  school  in  connection  with  the  advertise- 
ment of  the  church  itself.  Except  in  special  cam- 
paigns it  probably  is  inadvisable  to  separate  the 
invitation  to  Sunday  school  from  the  invitation  to 
church.  Announcements  of  both  services  ought  to 
include  invitations  to  attend  the  other.  The  type 
of  advertising  done  in  Martinsville,  however,  is 
strongly  to  be  commended.  The  weekly  stimulus  to 
attend  some  Sunday  school  is  advisable. 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT 


161 


In  Your  Hurry 
Pause  a  Moment 


You  are  BUSY,  Busy  chasing  the  elusive 
dollar — sometimes  holding  it  for  a  while,  then 
letting  it  go. 

You  are  in  a  hurry — so  much  so  that  you  have 
no  time  to  think  seriously  of  your  soul  life. 

You  may  say,  "There's  no  money  in  that." 

Jesus  Christ  said,  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man 
if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his 
own  soul?" 

How  about  that  proposition? 
Think  it  over. 

NOW! 

Read  Matthew  6  :  33;  John  3  :  16;  Hebrews 
2  : 1-3. 

Easter  Is 

"Join  the  Church  Sunday." 

(The  Record  donates  this  space  to  the  churches  of  the  county.) 


1 
1 
1 
1 
1 


Would  this  have  attracted  your  attention  in  six  inch  double  column 
space  in  your  paper?  From  an  excellent  series  used  by  the  Daily 
Record,  Stroudsburg,  Pennsylvania,  written  by  a  local  pastor. 

11 


162  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PtJBLICITY 

The  principles  of  headline  construction  and  layout 
which  have  been  set  forth  on  previous  pages  con- 
cerning church  advertisements,  apply  in  equal  force 
to  printed  announcements  of  Sunday  schools.  The 
designing  and  writing  of  printed  posters  and  cards 
Ukewise  require  observance  of  the  rules  suggested  for 
display  advertisements.  Care  in  planning  a  poster  is 
the  more  important  because  usually  there  is  only  one 
poster  in  a  campaign,  while  there  is  a  whole  series  of 
advertisements.  One  advertisement  can  supplement 
the  next.  The  poster  must  in  a  way  stand  alone  and 
tell  the  whole  story.  It  must  attract  attention  and 
create  interest  and  move  to  action.  Color  can  be 
used  on  posters  as  it  cannot  usually  in  newspaper 
advertisements,  but  the  wording  must  be  studied 
with  care. 

Posters  for  Sunday-school  conventions,  Hke  posters 
for  evangehstic  or  other  series  of  meetings,  often 
follow  the  Hne  of  least  resistance  and  use  as  a  head- 
line "Thirty-Second  Annual  Sunday  School  Con- 
vention," or  ^^Evangehstic  Meetings,"  or  something 
similar.  If  interest  in  the  convention  can  be  aroused 
by  the  mere  announcement  of  the  event,  then  the 
obvious  poster  may  be  the  best  for  such  a  gathering. 
Workers  who  have  studied  the  subject  seem  to  agree, 
however,  that  better  headlines  can  be  found  for  con- 
vention posters  than  the  announcement  of  the  meet- 
ing itself.  They  beheve  that  the  large  line  at  the 
top  should  make  an  appeal  to  those  not  previously 
interested  in  the  gathering. 

Opinion  may  well  differ  on  what  this  should  be, 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT  163 

and  one  sort  of  appeal  may  be  better  than  another. 
''Kansas  for  the  Kingdom"  may  be  the  best  Une  for 
a  Kansas  state  convention.  ''Be  a  Better  Sunday- 
School  Worker"  has  been  used  often.  There  may  be 
some  different  twist  to  yom*  convention  which  will 
provide  an  especially  pat  headline.  Generally  a 
verb  of  action  in  the  line  is  better  than  a  mere  com- 
monplace "Sunday  School  Convention."  Such 
words  also  as  "Stop,  Look,  Listen,"  "Notice,"  "At- 
tention," and  the  Uke,  give  evidence  that  the  de- 
signer of  the  poster  has  not  thought  long  over  this 
invitation  to  the  thousands  who  will  see  it. 

If  there  is  available  a  photograph  of  last  year's 
convention,  perhaps  a  long  narrow  cut  of  this  group 
with  the  big  hue,  "Find  Yourself"  or  "You'll  Come 
This  Year?"  will  best  serve  your  purpose.  The  pic- 
ture will  attract  the  attention  of  everyone  who  w^as 
present  the  previous  year,  and  friends  will  seek  to 
identify  others  in  the  group.  Here  are  other  pos- 
sible headlines : 

Fill  Your  Religious  Reservoir 

Study  to  Show  Thyself  Approved,  or,  without  the 

actual  quotation,  Study  to  Be  Approved 
Enlarge  Your  Sunday-School  Job 
Study  Sunday-School  Methods 
Put  Vim  Into  Your  Sunday-School  Work 
Learn  Best  Sunday-School  Methods 

The  last  four,  like  the  "Be  a  Better  Sunday-school 
Worker,"  show  at  once  the  nature  of  the  meeting 
announced.     The   fact   that   the  poster   advertises 


164   CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

Sunday-school  work  should  not  be  concealed  in  small 
type.^ 

Is  it  best  to  use  cuts  of  the  speakers?  Some  con- 
vention posters  have  been  overloaded  with  pictures. 
When  the  cuts  are  of  many  sizes  and  several  "screens'^ 
they  frequently  make  a  jumbled  looking  poster,  out 
of  keeping  with  the  idea  it  sets  forth.  Pictures, 
however,  always  attract  attention.  If  cuts  of  three 
or  four  of  the  speakers  will  help  to  draw  the  crowd,  use 
them,  but  perhaps  a  cut  of  last  year's  group,  as  men- 
tioned above,  would  have  as  much  pulling  power. 
Don't  permit  the  cuts  to  throw  the  poster  out  of 
balance  and  detract  from  the  headline. 

What  to  Put  on  Evangelistic  Posters 
Posters  for  evangelistic  services  in  a  church,  or  for 
any  other  special  meetings,  should  follow  the  sug- 
gestions for  Sunday-school  convention  posters.  Un- 
less one  is  sure  that  the  line  ^'Evangelistic  Meetings" 
is  the  most  attractive  combination  of  words  he  can 
find  to  draw  the  unsaved  to  the  meetings,  use  some- 
thing else.  The  suggestions  given  on  page  154  for 
advertisements  can  be  adapted  for  posters. 

In  some  cases  the  name  of  the  man  or  woman  who 
does  the  special  preaching  is  in  itself  a  drawing  card. 
If  so,  use  that.  Very  often  a  point  of  contact  can  be 
found  which  will  be  better  than  that.  There  is  no 
reason  why  a  poster  as  well  as  a  church  advertise- 
ment, should  not  also  leave  with  the  reader  an  up- 
lifting thought.  If  the  poster  aims  to  make  the 
reader  think,  it  will  do  more  good  than  otherwise. 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT 165 

Here  are  some  headlines  for  evangelistic  advertise- 
ments, which  also  might  be  found  available  for  pos- 
ters: 

The  Church  Is  Working  for  You 

''I  Know  Whom  I  Have  Believed" 

Beyond  the  Grave?   (ReHgion  is  the  chief  thing  we 

can  take) 
Lincoln  Said  (brief  quotation  on  need  of  religion) 
Overcome  Your  Handicap 
Yours  Is  the  Choice 

Stabilizers  (Most  stable  folk  belong  to  church.) 
The  Gospel  Will  Save 
Lonely?     (An  attempt  to  reach  a  boarding-house 

district) 

A  poster  must  not  have  too  many  words  or  the 
type  will  be  too  small  to  be  read  at  a  distance.  If  it 
is  advisable  to  add  to  the  main  facts  some  instruc- 
tions or  other  matter,  this  should  be  set  in  type  which 
will  be  read  when  the  passer-by  is  standing  close  to 
the  poster.  This  subordination  of  the  lesser  details 
will  enable  the  other  facts  to  be  set  in  large  type. 
But  the  printer  must  be  aided  in  his  endeavor  to 
produce  a  well-balanced  poster  by  the  writer's  fur- 
nishing words  and  sentences  of  the  proper  length  for 
display  in  the  manner  planned  in  the  layout.  A 
poorly  written  poster  cannot  be  displayed  to  advan- 
tage by  the  printer. 

What  to  Say  on  a  Motion  Picture  Slide 
Stereopticon  shdes  shown  in  local  motion-picture 
houses  between  reels  of  pictures  constitute  a  staple 


166  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

form  of  advertising  in  many  communities.  Very 
often  the  manager  of  the  motion-picture  house  will 
consent  to  run  the  sHde  on  Friday  and  Saturday 
evenings  without  charge.  But  the  opportunity  of 
reaching  persons  who  otherwise  would  be  untouched 
by  church  influence  is  well  worth  paying  for.  Such 
an  advertisement  on  the  picture  screen,  if  there  are 
not  too  many  such  shdes  between  the  reels,  has  an 
excellent  opportunity  of  being  seen  and  read. 

A  pastor  in  Lincoln,  Kansas,  has  used  slides  for 
several  years.  He  has  had  one  slide  prepared  with  a 
good  picture  of  the  church  with  the  caption,  "A 
Good  Place  to  Go  To-Morrow — the  Presbyterian 
Church."  Space  at  the  bottom  of  the  slide  is  left  for 
announcements  of  special  events.  Another  slide 
which  he  often  uses  reads  thus : 

MR.  MOTORIST  !  ! 

Turn  your  automobile  in  the  direction  in  which  it 
should  go,  and  it  will  take  you  to  church  somewhere 

NEXT  SUNDAY 

THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
IS  ON  THE  WAY 

STOP  I  THINK!  WORSHIP! 

Such  slides  can  be  made  at  small  expense  through 
the  purchase,  by  pastor  or  publicity  chairman,  of 
inexpensive  combinations  of  film  and  carbon  paper, 
whereby  material  desired  to  be  shown  on  the  screen 
can  be  typewritten  neatly  and  the  slide  made  merely 
by  binding  the  film  between  two  pieces  of  glass. 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT 


167 


They  Give  Intelligently 


THESE  two  Pres- 
byterian broth- 
ers in  Rupar, 
India,  together  earn 
only  $8  a  month,  but 
for  three  years  have 
provided  funds  for  spe- 
cial evangelistic  serv- 
ices in  their  village. 
Their  example  of  con- 
secratio.n  can  be 
matched  by  that  of 
hundreds  in  Korea, 
Siam— and  America. 
;^  One  Presbyterian 
who  yearly;  investsin 
benevolences  his  in- 
come of  nearly  a  mil- 
lion dollars  received  in 
youth  his  impetus  to 
give.  Of  his  first  $5  he 
set  apart  a  definite  pro- 
portion for  the  church. 


ARE  YOU  A  PROPORTIONATE  GIVER? 

In  the  Presbytenan  Church  many  thousands  of  members 
give  a  certain  proportion  of  their  income— many  a  tenth  or 
more— to  Christian  work.  Every  Mormon  and  Jew  gives  a 
tenth  to  his  church  as  a  matter  of  course. 

How  do  you  decide  how  much  to  put  on  the  collection  plate 
—the  first  loose  coins  your  hurried  hand  finds;  or  a  definite 
portion  of  your  week's  income? 

Be  businesslike  with  God.  He  has  given  us  all  we  have  and 
will  demand  an  accounting  of  our  stewardship. 

How  much  dare  we  withhold  Jot  out  own  use? 

Have  you  thought  through  this  question  of  Christian  stew* 
ardship  of  time,  energy,  ability  and  money? 


PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 


raVING  SQUARE 

PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH 

Cor.  Wilson  Ave.  and 

Weirfield  St. 

Pastor 

ARTHUR  F.  KURTZ 

Services 

Sunday  10:30  A.M.,  8  P.M. 


THROOP  AVE. 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

Cor.  Throop  Ave.  and 

Macon  St. 

Pastor 

WILLIAM  CARTER,  D.D. 

Services 
Sunday  10:30  A.M.,  7  P.M. 


Each  advertisement  in  this  1921  Presbyterian  series  attempted  to 
give  information  and  arouse  greater  interest  in  church  work.  Used 
by  ten  Brooklyn  churches — two  only  shown  here. 


168  CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

This  makes  a  better-looking  slide  than  can  be  pro- 
duced by  writing  on  a  piece  of  glass. 

The  same  rules  for  the  composition  of  an  attention- 
compelling  headline  should  be  followed  in  making 
slides.  The  matter  necessarily  must  be  brief  and 
consequently  prepared  with  great  care. 

Can  You  Use  Street  Car  Cards? 

Cards  in  street  cars  can  be  used  to  advantage  by 
churches  in  cities  where  the  lines  of  traffic  run  advan- 
tageously for  the  bringing  of  attendants  to  the  church. 
Cards  can  also  be  used  to  supplement  other  forms  of 
advertising  when  all  the  churches  are  united  on  a 
special  drive,  such  as  is  often  undertaken  at  Christ- 
mas or  Easter.  Whether  street-car  cards  should  be 
used  in  place  of  advertising  in  the  newspapers  must 
be  determined  after  a  careful  study  of  each  situation 
and  a  weighing  of  the  elements  involved.  The  thing 
to  be  determined  in  relation  to  all  church  advertising 
in  cities  is  the  use  of  that  medium  which  will  reach 
the  largest  number  of  possible  attendants  with  the 
least  waste  circulation. 

If  there  are  three  street-car  lines  in  town,  and  your 
church  is  near  the  end  of  one  line,  it  may  be  inex- 
pedient to  use  street-car  cards  unless  it  is  possible  to 
obtain  space  only  in  that  line  which  passes  your 
church.  In  some  cities  space  must  be  taken  in  all 
cars  in  town. 

Religion  is  the  most  engrossing  subject  in  the 
world.  No  topic  has  more  angles  of  interest  for  the 
average  man  or  woman.     The  Church  has  yet  done 


CONTENT  OF  ADVERTISEMENT 169 

little  to  train  men  and  women  to  write  in  popular 
terms  so  that  this  interest  can  best  be  developed. 
But  the  day  will  come  when  the  Church  will  lose  the 
idea  that  rehgion  is  to  be  expounded  and  discussed 
only  in  the  stained-glass  environment  of  edifices  set 
apart  for  the  worship  of  God.  There  are  various 
vehicles  for  the  conveyance  of  the  message  of  the 
gospel  to  the  minds  of  men.  Commerce  in  the  last 
twenty  years  has  discovered  avenues  to  reach  men's 
minds  previously  used  but  Httle,  and  as  a  result  has 
grown  tremendously.  The  age  is  called  materialistic 
because  trade  has  profited  by  its  adoption  of  the  path 
of  least  resistance  and  the  shortest  way  into  the  mind 
of  man.  He  has  been  persuaded  to  buy  crackers  in 
packages,  to  seek  education  at  home  in  the  evening, 
to  ask  for  a  certain  brand  of  carpenter  tools,  and  to 
designate  the  sort  of  bearings  wanted  in  the  axle  of 
his  automobile. 

Society  will  shortly  find  that  ideas  of  right  living 
and  straight  thinking  can  with  profit  to  itself  also 
follow  paths  of  least  resistance  and  the  printing  press 
will  add  new  laurels  to  itself.  The  Sunday-school 
movement  began  in  England  under  the  stimulus  of 
the  editor  of  a  local  paper  who  used  the  press  to  tre- 
mendous advantage.  Some  time  publicity  will  be 
used  mightily  to  tell  men  the  way  of  righteousness, 
to  set  before  them  the  principles  of  the  perfect  Man, 
to  spread  abroad  the  gospel  of  peace  and  brother- 
hood. You  can  help  to  bring  in  that  day  by  using 
in  your  town  the  various  means  of  publicity  which 
are  available. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BOOKS  on  church  advertising  are  few.  Those  on 
commercial  advertising  would  fill  more  than 
five  feet.  The  schools  of  journalism  have  called  out 
a  number  of  good  books  on  news  writing.  A  selected 
list  only  is  presented  here. 

CHURCH  ADVERTISING 

"Book  of  Religious  Advertisements"  (Christian  Publicity  Com- 
mittee, 1915).  Reproductions  of  half-page  advertisements  used 
in  The  Baltimore  News  in  joint  advertising  campaign  in  that  city. 
"Building  the  Congregation,"  Skeath.  (Methodist  Book  Con- 
cern, 1919.)  A  brief  analysis  of  sane  educational  methods  used 
by  the  author  in  his  church  to  build  up  a  congregation  as  dis- 
tinguished from  an  audience. 

"Church  Advertising,"  Ashley.  (Lippincott,  1917.)  Ad- 
dresses at  the  Church  Advertising  Department  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Convention  of  the  Associated  Advertising  Clubs  of  the 
World. 

"Church  Publicity,"  Reisner.  (Methodist  Book  Concern, 
1913.)  Compilation  of  extensive  advertising  plans  which  the 
author  used  as  a  pastor  in  Denver  and  New  York. 

"Handbook  of  Church  Advertising,"  Case.  (Abingdon  Press, 
1921.)  Digested  and  arranged  papers  delivered  before  the 
Church  Advertising  Department  of  the  Convention  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Advertising  Clubs  of  the  World  at  Indianapolis,  1920. 
Has  many  practical  helps  for  the  novice. 

"How  to  Advertise  a  Church,"  Elliott.  (Doran,  1920.)  Com- 
paratively brief  account  of  advertising  campaign  in  Kansas  City 
churches. 

170 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  171 


"Practical  Interchurch  Methods,"  McGarrah.  (Revell,  1919.) 
Chapters  13  to  18  have  helpful  suggestions  and  copy  of  adver- 
tisements used  in  joint  campaigns  in  several  cities. 

"Principles  of  Successful  Church  Advertising,"  Stelzle.  (Revell, 
1908.)  Helpful  book  for  inexperienced  advertisement  writers 
unacquainted  with  printers'  terms. 

"PubHcity  and  Progress,"  Smith.  (Doran,  1915.)  Publicity 
methods  of  commerce  applied  to  religious,  educational,  and  social 
activities,  covering  paid  advertising  and  news. 

"Standing  Room  Only,"  Stidger.  (Doran,  1921.)  How  the 
author  as  a  pastor  has  filled  his  church  through  clever  programs 
and  persistent  publicity. 

The  publicity  departments  of  the  Southern  Baptist  denomina- 
tion and  the  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A.,  have  issued  practical 
handbooks  on  publicity  and  advertising. 

The  Presbyterian  Magazine,  official  organ  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  U.  S.  A.,  has  monthly  articles  on  church  advertising. 

COMMERCIAL  ADVERTISING 

"Advertising  and  Selling,"  HoUingworth.  (Appleton,  1913.) 
Authoritative  volume  by  professor  in  Columbia  University  deal- 
ing wholly  with  commercial  advertising  but  containing  many 
practical  helps  to  church  advertisement  writers. 

"Advertising  as  a  Business  Force,"  Cherington.  (Doubleday, 
Page,  1913.)  Analyzed  compilation  of  business  experience  of 
scores  of  commercial  advertisers.  Worth  study  by  those 
churchmen  who  can  get  ideas  from  unrelated  subjects. 

"Correct  Composition,"  DeVinne.  (Century,  1921.)  Helpful 
technical  suggestions  by  a  master  craftsman. 

"Making  Type  Work,"  Sherbow.  (Century,  1916.)  An  ex- 
tremely suggestive  book  on  typography  for  those  who  seek  to 
make  type  talk  with  distinctness. 

"Making  Advertisements  and  Making  Them  Pay,"  Durstine. 
(Scribner's,  1920.)  Breezy  book  of  practical  ideas  for  copy 
writers  by  one  of  the  best. 


172   CHURCH  AND  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  PUBLICITY 

"Psychology  of  Advertising,"  Scott.  (Small,  Maynard,  1913.) 
Important  basic  book  of  some  of  earliest  investigations  into 
application  of  laws  of  psychology  to  advertising. 

'Typography  of  Advertisements  that  Pay,"  Farrar.  (Apple- 
ton,  1917.)  A  most  stimulating  study  of  type,  cuts,  and  white 
space,  as  related  to  getting  messages  into  the  minds  of  men. 

"Treatise  on  Title-Page,"  DeVinne.  (Century,  1902.)  Com- 
ment and  suggestions  on  history  of  type  composition  as  related 
to  title-pages,  showing  development  of  various  faces  of  type  and 
their  proper  uses. 

"Writing  an  Advertisement,"  Hall.  (Houghton,  Mifflin,  1915.) 
Analysis  of  methods  and  mental  processes  in  writing  an  adver- 
tisement. 

HELPS  IN  NEWS  WRITING 

"Newspaper  Editing,"  Hyde.  (Appleton,  1915.)  A  working 
manual  for  editors,  copy  readers,  and  students  of  newspaper 
work. 

"News  Writing,"  Spencer.  (Heath,  1917.)  An  excellent  book 
by  a  practical  newspaper  man  and  professor  of  EngHsh. 

"News  Writing  and  Editing,"  Bleyer.  (Houghton,  Mifflin, 
1913.)  A  comprehensive  book  for  those  who  would  write  news, 
with  many  examples  and  suggestions  on  copy-reading  and  proof- 
reading. 

"The  Writing  of  News,"  Ross.  (Holt,  1911.)  Complete 
study  book  for  the  student  of  the  art  of  writing  for  newspapers. 


INDEX 


Advertisements,  Bible  verse  in, 
144;  border  detracts  (illustra- 
tion), 139;  check  for  $25,000, 
110;  for  conventions,  99;  de- 
sign distinctive  (illustration), 
157;  form  of,  art  rules,  138; 
faces  of  type  (illustration), 
135;  frequency  of,  131;  give 
something  of  gospel,  144;  good 
if  gets  results,  146;  home-mis- 
sion propaganda,  116;  infor- 
mational example,  151;  pas- 
tors "dash  off,"  143;  raise 
college  funds,  108;  on  sports 
page,  131;  space,  cost,  99; 
quote  prominent  workers,  93; 
white  space  helps,  133 

Advertising,  advisabihty  of,  in 
church  papers,  50;  defined,  11; 
expense  based  on  sales,  117; 
letters  follow  laws  of,  60;  by 
mail,  example,  19;  plan  to 
meet  competition,  17;  regular 
vs.  spasmodic,  115;  themes 
from  sermons,  17;  value  of 
good  letterheads,  64 

Advertising  writing,  rule-making 
hazardous,  129 

Announcements,  put  thought  on, 
37 

Annual  reports,  27 

Appeal,  suggestion  vs.  argument, 
152 

Appropriation,  minimum,  119 

Articles,  signed,  in  papers,  105 

Attendants,  possible,  where?  17 

Attention,  church  advertising 
competes  for,  129;  law  of,  in 
oral  notices,  37 

Audience — or  congregation?  14 

Banks  advertise  churches,  124 

Banners,  91 


Basis  of  expense  of  advertise- 
ments, 117 

Blackboard  as  bulletin  board, 
26 

Booklets,  31,  63 

Boxes,  use  of,  in  make-up,  50 

Budget,  put  advertising  in,  122 

Building,  church  to  raise  money 
for,  106 

Bulletin  (see  calendar) 

Bulletin  board,  arrangement  of 
matter  on,  58;  how  use,  57; 
sermonettes,  58;  Trenton, 
New  Jersey,  57 

Calendars,  Easter,  33;  form  of 
news,  44;  headlines  of  items, 
45;  material,  statement  of 
facts,  44;  mimeographed,  40; 
not  personal  organ  of  pastor, 
43;  set  in  half  measure,  41; 
use  of  advertisements  in,  50; 
use  of  cuts  in,  41 

Capitals,  hard  to  read,  135 

Cards  follow  rules  of  advertise- 
ments, 133;  use  in  conven- 
tions, 101 

Christian  Endeavor  plans  for 
convention,  89 

Church  advertisements,  copy, 
16;  leave  uphfting  thought, 
5;  must  be  beheved,  remem- 
red,  148;  only  religious  in- 
fluence, 112 

Church  advertising  defined,  113 

Church  magazines,  have  facts 
for,  26 

Church  treasury  pay  for  sta- 
tionery, 65 

Circular  letter,  by  Indiana 
church,  120 

College  advertisements,  110; 
campaign  plans,  106;  per  cent 


173 


174 


INDEX 


of  cost  to  get  funds,  109;  per 
cent  of  expense  for  advertis- 
ing, 119 

Commerce,  lessons  for  churches 
from,  116;  uses  laws  of  mind, 
169 

Competition  to  church  services, 
17 

Conventions,  Bureau  County, 
91;  have  news  elements,  89; 
follow-up  story  for,  96;  letters 
by  key  persons,  102;  motion- 
picture  ads  for,  100;  news, 
.  examples  to  use,  97;  news  re- 
ports of,  78;  pubHcity  plans, 
89 

Copy,  church  ads,  150;  conven- 
tion poster,  100;  important 
problem,  22;  Niles,  Michigan, 
Trinity  ads,  121;  subjects  for 
ads,  16 

Cost,  advertising  space  vs.  pos- 
tals, 100 

Cross,  used  in  ads,  124 

Cut  church  tower,  156;  offered 
by  some  denominations,    155 

Daily  papers  best  medium,  128; 
use  of,  for  nonchurchgoers, 
115 

Debate  as  means  of  making  news, 
105 

Definitions — city  editor,  88; 
copy,  87;  copy  reader,  87; 
em,  86;  galley  proof,  87;  half 
tone,  86;  hne  etching,  86; 
line,  99;  linotype,  87;  mat, 
85;  plates,  85-  proof,  proof 
reader,  87;  reporter,  88; 
story,  88;  stick,  85 

Detroit  church  publicity  com- 
mittee, 12 

Deuteronomy  records  command 
to  advertise,  5,  129 

Diplomacy  in  publicity,  104 

Editing  manuscript,  47 

Editor  of  church  paper,  have 
courage,  46;  convention  gives 
friendly,  opportunity,  90; 
guided  by  letters,  103;  help 
with  news,  70;    prints  what 


people  will  read,  68;  owns 
paper;  not  you,  83 

Editorial  comment  via  resolu- 
tions, 104 

Evangehstic  campaigns  (see  con- 
vention) 

Evangehstic  posters,  possible 
headhnes,  165;  what  will 
draw  unsaved?  164 

Facts,  of  denomination,  use  of, 
26;  dig  for,  29;  help  keep  peo- 
ple in  church,  31;  needed  as 
basis  for  ads,  18;  not  com- 
ment, 27 

Figures  on  attendance,  30 

Fillers  always  needed,  47 

Group  advertising,  125;  illus- 
trated, 167 

Hall,  S.  Roland,  quoted,  152 

Head  vs.  label,  146 

Headlines,  articles,  48;  for 
Christmas  Sunday-school  ad- 
vertisements, 35;  count  let- 
ters, 48;  in  lower  case,  146; 
point  of  contact,  143;  posters, 
134;  Portsmouth  advertise- 
ments, 154;  for  Sunday-school 
picnic  poster,  34;  use  verb, 
146;  Western  Newspaper 
Union  advertisements,  155; 
written  by  editor,  82 

Holhngworth  on  eye  movements, 
137 

Hospital,  to  raise  money  for,  106 

Information  of  Sunday  school 
creates  interest,  24 

Interest,  must  awaken  before 
gifts  come,  106 

Intrachurch  advertising  always 
important,  24 

Italic  for  emphasis  only,  136 

Items  about  people,  48 

Laws  to  be  observed  in  writing 
advertisements,  127 

Laymen  pay  for  advertisements, 
126 

Layout,  132 

Lecturers,  send  news  stories,  72 

Letterheads,  64 

Lettering  on  posters,  56 


INDEX 


175 


Letters,  as  advertisements,  60; 
to  editors  help  moral  issues, 
103;  flank  attack,  63;  by  key 
persons,  102;  open  ^ath  inci- 
dent, 62;  placement  on  page, 
65;  quality  of  stationery,  65; 
used  by  small  church,  12;  use 
of  suggestion  in,  63;  when  use, 
59 

Libraries  helped  by  publicity, 
106 

Line,  unit  of  advertising  space, 
99;  length  of,  137 

Make-up,  50 

Market  for  church's  goods,  17; 
how  reach,  19 

Medium,  choice  of,  128;  list,  20 

Mimeograph,  use  of,  increased 
attendance,  120 

Missionary  convention  plans,  90 

Money  raised  by  pubhcity,  105 

Moral  issues  helped  by  letters, 
103 

Motion-picture  screen  advertise- 
ments on,  100;  slides,  165 

News,  best,  interests  largest 
number,  79;  church,  keep 
papers  supplied,  71;  church 
people  ignore  religious,  80; 
editorial  expressions  prohib- 
ited in,  82;  examples  of 
stories,  97;  items  for  conven- 
tion, 93;  local  angle  of,  76; 
prepared  story,  73;  reports  of 
conventions,  78;  in  resolu- 
tions, 103;  writing,  first  sen- 
tence, 76;  unusual  has  greatest 
interest,  80 

Novelty,  value  of,  36 

Offerings  grow  under  advertise- 
ments, 120 

Officers  must  be  informed,  29 

Oral  announcements,  give  facts 
in,  27 

Paid  ads  may  be  inexpedient,  20 

Paper,  make-up  of,  48;  Monday 
morning,  104;  monthly, 
danger  in  long  articles,  46; 
semimonthly,  for  theological 
seminaries,  108 


Parents,  reach,  by  special  days, 

33 
Pastor  on  friendly  terms  with 

editor,  70 
Personal  work  effective,  102 
Picnic,  poster  headings  for,  34 
Portsmouth,     Ohio,     campaign, 

123,  154 
Possible  market,  19 
Post  cards  to  absentees,  29 
Posters,  change  often,  56;  home- 
made, 53;    laA'out  important, 
134;  poor  headHnes,  162;  for 
stewardship,     55;      Trenton, 
New  Jersey,  12 
Preacher,     be    advertised?     14; 
help   reforms  by  sermon  ex- 
tracts, 104;    must  give  some- 
thing worth  hearing,  122 
Printing,  good,  65,  101 
Proclamations    by    officials    as 

advertisements,  100 
Proof,  galley,  page,  87 
Pubhcity,  defined,  11;  for  right- 
eousness possible,  169 
Pubhcity    committee,    organiza- 
tion, 11;  sohcit  subscribers  to 
church  papers,  13;    three  im- 
portant questions,  14;    Tren- 
ton, New  Jersey,  Detroit,  12 
Quahty  of  printed  matter,  101 
Query  on  blackboard  as  adver- 
tisement, 28 
Quotations  in  Sunday-school  ad- 
vertisements, 93 
Rally  Day,  plan  early  with  pub- 
hcity committee,  34 
Rehgion  in  paid  space,  112 
Remembrance,  laws  of,  149 
Reporter,    employed    for    news 
items,   108;    gather  facts  for 
calendars,  45;  need  help,  69 
Resolutions  often  good  news,  103 
Results  of  advertising,   Illinois 
new  church,  119;   New  York, 
120;     Niles,    Michigan,    121; 
Portsmouth,  Ohio,   124;    Ta- 
coma,  Washington,  120 
Scripture,  use  in  church  adver- 
tisements, 112 


176 


INDEX 


Sermon,  best  thing  to  advertise? 
17;  extracts,  how  prepare,  71; 
print  in  full?  70 
Signs,  use  of,  example,  19 
Slides,  on  screen  for  convention 
advertising,    100;    at   annual 
meeting,  28 
Space,  cost  of,  how  figured,  151 
Stationery^  churches  furnish,  65 
Stewardship,  how  advertise,  21 
Street-car  cards,  when  use,  168 
Suggestion,  use  of,  in  letters,  63 
Summer  advertising  useful,  115; 
plan  early  for  Sunday-school 
attendance,  34 
Sunday-school,     attendance 
grows,  124;  class  dig  up  facts, 
26;  find  special  talking  points, 
33;     program    for   year,    32; 
teacher,  how  to  use  pubhcity 
plans,  39;  workers,  quotations 
from,  in  advertisements,  93 
Sunday-school  advertising,  grow- 
ing in  volume,  158;  hnk  with 
church,     160;      Martinsville, 
Indiana,  159;   Oakland,  CaU- 
fornia,     160;     proclamations, 
100;  samples  by  International 
Sunday    School    Association, 
158;  suggested  plan,  20 
Sunday-school  convention,    Bu- 


reau County,  91;  interest  out- 
siders, 92;    plans,  89;  follow- 
up  story,  96 
Sunday-school  posters,  common- 
place   heads,     162;     possible 
headlines,    163;     use    photo- 
graph, 163 
Technical  terms,  85 
Telephone  to  spread  news,  102 
Theological  seminary  plan,  108 
Tower,  use  of,  in  calendar  and 

advertisements,  41 
Tract,  put  in  newspaper,  68 
Trenton,    example    of    bulletin 

board,  57;  use  of  posters,  12 
Trustees,  persuade  to  advertise, 

119 
Type,    resolve    into    rectangles, 

129;  sohd,  140 
Unchurched,  reaching  in  ads,  121 
Visitors,  welcome  them,  34 
Want  ad,  uncommon,  147 
Week-day    schools    helped    by 

publicit}',  105 
Western  Newspaper  Union  ad- 
vertisements illustrated,   114, 
145;  heads  of  series  of  ads,  155 
Words  in  square  inch,  133 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  convention  plans,  89 
Zinc  etching,  use  of,  instead  of 
half  tone,  41 


Date  Due 

Mvia"^ 

ir  2  ?  'L 

• 

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